Key of The Heart
by Anthurak The Chaos Lord
Summary: We all know how Sora saved the world. But what if the worlds did not have as much faith in him? So they recruited an unlikly team to assist him. A new legend will now be born. Moved to Naruto section due to lack of reviews. DISCONTINUED UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything else copyrighted.

"Hi"-Normal speaking

'_Voices in my head'_-Normal thinking

'**Demon'**-Voice of Destiny/Heartless/Greater Being speaking

'_**Mind Demon'**_-Greater Being/Heartless thinking

**Prologue**

**Divergence**

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"RIKU!!" Sora yelled to his friend as the darkness swallowed him.

The new Keyblade warrior ran towards the mass of Darkness, hoping to follow his friend. Before he reached it however, the Darkness swirled and exploded outward, shooting upward as it reformed. Sora's eyes widened as the familiar figure emerged.

"You…" he said as the giant Heartless that had haunted his dreams stood before him.

The giant demonic Heartless raised a giant fist and brought down on the boy. Sora's combat instincts kicked in and he dodged to the left.

'_Right…I beat this thing before, and I can do it again!'_ he thought with conviction as he jumped onto a tree and leapt at the Heartless.

Darkside tried to swat him away, but Sora angled his flight and planted his feet on the massive fist as it tried to hit him. Running along its length, he jumped at the thing's head, Keyblade drawn back.

The beast hollowed in pain as the key-like sword slashed across its face, making a long gash under its eyes.

'_**Insolent whelp!'**_

As Sora landed, he was almost knocked down as a giant explosion rocked the island. He looked to the southern beach to see a massive fireball form a large crater on the beach.

'_What the heck?!'_ he thought, however, before he could see what else was (or wasn't) on the beach, he felt rushing wind coming towards him. His body moved on its own and he jumped up in the air as Darkside's fist slammed into the ground where he just was. Twisting in the air, he let go of the Keyblade, grabbing the short chain on it. Twirling it in one hand, he felt power gathering in it. The Keyblade began to glow as it spun, anticipating the blood of the great Heartless. Sora smirked, still upside down as he threw the great weapon right into Darkside's face.

The beast howled in pain again as it gripped its face, trying in vain to remove the still-glowing weapon. As Sora fell towards the struggling demon, he reached out his hand, calling for the weapon. It answered. In a flash of light, the Keyblade was back in his hand, its blade still gleaming in a silver light.

Uttering a battlecry, Sora shot down towards the reeling heartless…and planted the Keyblade into its chest. The beast's mouth opened in silent scream as its body froze…and then evaporated.

Sora leapt away as the creatures body dissolved into darkness, revealing a glowing heart like all the smaller ones he'd slain. This one, understandably considering the size of the heartless, was massive. It floated upwards, and disappeared.

Sora turned to go check out where that explosion had been when something happened.

Sora heard a strange 'whosing' sound and turned towards it…and gasped. Right in front of the cliff where Riku had disappeared, was a massive swirling black vortex. What was worse, was that he was being sucked towards it.

Sora spun around, grabbing a tree. It soon snapped. Trying something different, he dug the Keyblade into the ground. It was soon ripped out.

"AHHHHHH!!" Sora screamed as he was sucked into the vortex. As he fell through the darkness, he thought he saw a strange bird in the sky, but it soon vanished. As he slipped into unconsciousness, a single thought entered his head.

'_Kairi…'_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uh…What time is it?" Sora yawned as he opened his eyes.

As previous events resurfaced in his memory, he jumped up, glancing around to see where he was.

He was standing in an alleyway in some kind of town or city. As he walked out into the street, he looked around. It definitely a city of some kind, but he had never seen it before. The buildings looked normal enough, and there were some people walking in the streets, but there was something…off. It was obviously nighttime. The street lights where on, illuminating the streets in a sickly orange glow. Looking up, Sora frowned. The sky was dark and cloudy, like a thunderstorm was right above them. But it wasn't raining. The clouds also seemed…off. He remembered it from somewhere, but he just couldn't place it. Then he remembered. He quickly looked around, looking for where those creatures were. The same clouds had gathered over Destiny Islands before they had come there.

"Don't worry. It's always like that" a voice from behind him said.

Sora spun around to see who had said that. A man who looked about in his early twenties stood in front of him. He had dark-brown hair that fell around his head in spikes. He looked at Sora through dark eyes. He was wearing a white tank-top over an unzipped black jacket with short sleeve shirt and a pair of black cargo pants and boots. Around his neck was a pendent that looked like a lion's head above a cross. The same emblem was embroidered on his left sleeve in red. And hanging behind his waist was a sword that looked like it had a gun for a hilt.

"Huh?" Sora said as he lowered the Keyblade. He hadn't even known he'd summoned it.

"I'm sorry. But I'll have to ask you to come with me"

"What…why-?" Sora tried to say before a sharp strike to the back knocked him unconscious again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora's vision swam as he tried to open his eyes. He saw someone leaning over him.

"Kairi…?" he asked as he saw the girl. As his vision cleared however, he saw that this wasn't the girl he knew. While her hair was cut in a similar fashion to Kairi's, it was indigo instead of red and slightly longer. She was also wearing a baggy jacket and a pair of combat pants. Also…Kairi's eyes were purple. This girl had eyes as pale as snow.

"Um…" the girl spoke in a soft voice, "My names not Kairi. It's Hinata"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Hahaha. Bet you didn't see _that_ coming, huh? Hinata's (and others') presence in Kingdom Hearts will be explained next chapter. And yes, Naruto is there too since this is going to be NaruHina. See if you can guess who _else_ is there. I'll give you a hint, two of them are one of my favorite Naruto pairings (see my profile), and it is a pairing that has very few inspired fics (on anyway). And I'm also including a few Final Fantasy characters that weren't in the original KH. See if you can guess who.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything else copyrighted

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto

"Hi"-Normal speaking

'_Voices in my head'_-Normal thinking

'**Demon'**-Voice of Destiny/Heartless/Greater Being speaking/Jutsu

'_**Mind Demon'**_-Greater Being/Heartless thinking

**Chapter I**

**Destiny's Call**

--

_A brown haired boy with spiky hair floats underwater. He slowly sinks underwater as he looks upwards._

"_I've been having…these weird thoughts lately"_

"_Like…is any of this for real…or not?"_

_The boy opens his eyes. He is standing on a beach. It is bright and sunny. He looks out to the water. He sees another boy standing out in the water with his back turned. He has long silver hair and is the same age._

_The brunette begins to walk towards his friend, but as he takes a step forward, he notices the water pulling outward, as if the sea was being drained. He looks towards the other boy and sees a massive wave forming in front of him as he turns around to look at the first boy. The silver-haired one extends his hand to the brunette. The boy runs out into the water, trying to help his friend. But he is too late. The wave crashes, knocking the brown-haired boy off his feet. From underwater, he sees his friend, still standing on the sand, his hand still outstretched. He tries to swim towards his friend, but the current pulls him away._

_The boy breaks the surface, gasping for breath. It is dusk now. He looks around, and sees a girl his age with red hair calling to him from the beach. He waves to her and runs through the water. He soon reaches her, his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. The girl laughs a little as he catches his breath. The boy looks up at her and stands up. She suddenly gasps and points to the sky. The boy follows her gaze and sees someone falling from the sky._

_It's him._

_He feels himself fall backwards, and keeps falling. He looks back up to his friend staring down at him. He reaches up to her, but she vanishes in a ripple of light. He falls from the sky among shooting stars and past the sun. He hits the water and goes under, sinking deeper and deeper. He opens his eyes, somehow he can breath. His feet touch the seabed, but as they do, a mass of birds fly up from the ground, revealing a stained-glass floor with the girl from before. The boy looks down at the platform, and then back at the birds flying off._

"Hey gaki! Wake up!"

Naruto opened his eyes to see his sensei, Jiraiya, standing over him. He gets up, albeit slowly. He never was a mourning person.

"Geez Ero-sennin. You don't have to kick me"

"How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?!"

"Oh about…357 I'd say" Naruto replied with a grin.

"Come on, let's go" his sensei said.

Naruto just picked up his pack and joined his teacher as they walked out of the now-destroyed clearing that they had used as a training area last night. Naruto smirked at the memory. It may have been a bitch to make and even though it still took two Kage Bunshin to use, he had completed Oodama Rasengan.

He looked back at the crater that had once been part of the clearing. Oh yeah. He was awesome.

His smirk faded as the memory of the dream came back to him. His dreams had been weird before but this one was different. In all of his dreams, there had either been people he knew or places he had been. This dream had neither. He briefly entertained the notion that the fox might be the cause of it but he quickly dismissed it. If the fox could mess with his dreams, he would be making him see his friends die or something that would make him miserable. Not simply confusing him.

Jiraiya noticed the look on his pupils face as they walked onto the road. Over the past year and a half since they had left Konoha, Naruto had matured greatly. He still had most of his more prominent points of his personality like his pranking nature, ramen obsession and complete tenacity. But he had lost much of his naivety and was more serious. He had abandoned (finally) the orange jumpsuit in favor of a darker attire. He now wore black combat boots with dark orange pants along with plain black shirt with a black combat vest similar to ones worn by Konoha chunin under a dark orange unzipped trench coat with a black flame design on the bottom. He also wore a pair of black fingerless gloves. His Konoha head band, though still tied around his neck, now had black fabric instead of blue. He had grown a few inches too. His hair had also grown some too, and he now bore an eerie resemblance to Jiraiya's last pupil. Of all of the things he had gained, retained and lost, however, Jiraiya thought that it made him a better shinobi, save one. Though he didn't talk about it often, he was still determined to retrieve Sasuke, his old friend and teammate. Now Jiraiya didn't think that Naruto should give up on Sasuke completely, but his obsession with bringing him back was not something that would help him. He had occasionally voiced this, but Naruto had always blown him off. In the end, losing the closest thing to a brother he had ever had was one of Naruto's greatest fears. Perhaps Naruto thought that if he gave up on Sasuke, he'd both be breaking his promise to Sakura, and lose the last part of himself.

"Bad dreams?" Jiraiya asked, noticing Naruto's expression.

"Not really. More like confusing ones" he answered.

"Hm? How so?" Jiraiya asked, curious.

"Well…almost every dream I've ever had, good or bad, has always had two things in common. They always include at least one person or place that I've known or been to"

"And this dream had neither?"

"Yeah"

Jiraiya thought this over as they walked down the road. He frowned as he realized that it could be the work of Kyuubi. If Naruto's past usage of the demon's chakra was any indication, the seal holding the fox might be weakening. So far, they had only gotten up to three tails, and even then, Naruto had practically turned into a completely different person, striking out at enemies without any shred of mercy. He had completely slaughtered a group of missing-nins the last time he had used it. If that were the case, Kyuubi might be able to influence his dreams. Naruto however, seemed to sense his teacher's unease and spoke up.

"I don't think it's the Kyuubi. From what I know about him, if he could influence my dreams, I doubt he'd just be trying to confuse me"

"Really? Well what did it involve? It might be someplace I'm familiar with" or to be more exact, a place Minato would have been familiar with. It was entirely possible that some of his (Minato's) memories were trapped with the fox during the sealing and that might be what Naruto was seeing.

Shrugging, Naruto explained the dream in detail. After a few minutes, he finished his narrative and Jiraiya thought over what he had heard.

"Well…it's definitely nowhere I'm familiar with. And the kids you mentioned don't ring a bell either. But it seems kind of prophetic if you ask me. The whole thing with the falling from the sky and the stained-glass platform…you know there have been some shinobi who have been able to have premonitions in dreams. Maybe you're one of them"

"Premo-what?" Naruto asked.

"A premonition. It's basically seeing the future or an inkling of the future in a dream. From what I've heard they're usually pretty vague in descriptions but they usually are different from the norm of the person's dreams so-"

Jiraiya was cut off as they both sensed an attack. They jumped out off the road as a hail of kunai came raining down on them. The two companions landed in the trees as they got a good look at their assailants. Both of them smirked. Standing on the road where they had just been, were five missing-nins. Two were wearing Kumo headbands, the other three Iwa, all with a slash across the symbol. All of them looked like they were pissed. Jiraiya had an inkling as to why.

'_Heh…looks like I'm not the only one to have noticed Naruto's resemblance to Minato. Either they think he is him, or the figured out he's Minato's son or they just can't restrain themselves because he looks like him. Oh well'_

Jiraiya wasn't worried. They all looked to be mid to high chunin level. Naruto was currently at a high chunin to low jounin, and his unpredictable fighting style and high-powered jutsus meant he could hold his own against even mid to high jounin. And in his three-tailed state Naruto was even on par him. So between the two of them, a couple of chunin wouldn't be much trouble, and Naruto knew that too.

One of the Iwas sneered at the two.

"You…you will PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!!"

'_Well, guess it's the former then'_

One of the Iwas made handseals as the ground under the trees turned to quicksand. Naruto and Jiraiya jumped out of them. Naruto threw a kunai and made a one-handed ram seal.

"Kunai Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

The one kunai multiplied in 50 which rained down on the ninjas. One of the Kumo nins took one in the shoulder while one of the Iwas got hit in the face. The nin fell to the ground, dead.

As they landed, they both engaged the remaining nins. Naruto landed in front of one of the Kumos and one of the Iwas, Jiraiya engaged the other two.

Naruto created two kage bunshin which rushed forward. The Iwa-nin in front of him made handsigns and two tentacles of earth rose and trapped the clones as they reached them. The clones smirked, then exploded, knocking the two nins away as Naruto charged through the smoke, shoving a Rasengan into the Iwa's face and the Kumo's chest, killing both of them.

Looking over to his sensei, he saw him barbecuing the other two with a large Karyuudan. The sound of a snapping twig and the crackling of electricity brought his attention behind him. On the side of the path, right on the edge of the trees, was an enraged Kumo jounin running through handseals, electricity crackling around him. As the angry man finished, he pointed his hand at Naruto as a large dragon made of lightning shot towards him. Naruto was about to kawarimi with the clone he left in the trees when he heard a voice.

'_**You are needed'**_

As the thunder dragon neared him, a bright light engulfed Naruto, and his vision went white as he fell…

--

"NARUTO!!" Jiraiya yelled as the bright light engulfed Naruto and the dragon evaporated in front of the now-shocked kumo-nin. His shock and fear quickly turning to rage, Jiraiya shot forward like a kunai, grapping the jounin by the neck and slamming him into a tree. Keeping him pinned there with one hand, Jiraiya, his eyes now filled with hate and fury, spoke four words, each dripping with venom.

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"I…I don't know! It wasn't me!" his prisoner stammered as he gasped for air, "It was just a large raiton jutsu! All I was hoping to do was kill him with that Rairyuudan! I don't where that light came from!"

Jiraiya's gaze hardened as he examined the man. There was no lie in his eyes. He had no idea what just happened.

"Alright. I believe you" Jiraiya said to the man, his gaze softening. The man brightened up, thinking that he just might live. Then Jiraiya snapped his neck. He still needed something to take his frustration out on.

As the man's corpse fell to the ground, Jiraiya examined the area where Naruto had disappeared. At first he feared that he had been vaporized, but there was no burn marks on the ground. Heck, there wasn't any sign that anything had happened at all. There was another thing too. Naruto's chakra signature had completely vanished. Even if he had been completely vaporized, there would still be some residual chakra left behind. This calmed Jiraiya down immensely.

'_So the kid's still alive? He's just gone then'_ Jiraiya thought as he looked up at the sky where the light had come from, as if searching for answers. Getting to his feet, Jiraiya started walking down the road.

'_Tsunade's gonna kill me for this'_

--

Naruto floated in complete blackness. What struck him as odd was that it wasn't dark. He could still see his body as if it were a bright as day, but he couldn't see beyond. It was as if he was in a black void. He could fell himself floating downwards. After a few minutes, or maybe hours, he felt his feet land on something solid. Getting his balance as he stood, Naruto looked down. He could just make out some kind of platform under his feet.

Before he could register any of this however, he instinctively brought his hands in front of his head as a mass of birds that had been gathered on the platform took flight, soaring off into the blackness. Naruto gazed at their retreating forms, his mind racing.

'_It's just like my dream!'_

Looking back down, already having an inkling of what he would see, Naruto saw he was standing on a stained-glass platform like the one from his dream, although the design on it was different. It wasn't the red headed girl from his dream, but it was someone else from it. Painted on the glass was the spiky-haired boy, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, in his hand was a sword of some kind. It basically looked like a giant key. It looked a bit ridiculous, but at the same time, fitting for some reason. The background of the painting was one of an island, one Naruto recognized as the one from his dream. Along the edge of the design, going all the way around the platform, was a ring of circles, each with a crown design in them.

Naruto suddenly realized something else strange. He could hear music. It was a deep orchestral with an organ accompanied by some kind of strange chanting with no source other then the blackness around him.

Naruto was broken from his observations as the same voice from before spoke up.

'**Your charge'**

"Huh? Hey! Who are you?" Naruto said as he pulled out a kunai, glancing around to find who was speaking. The voice seemed to emanate from all around him.

'**Do not try to find me, for you will not find me. And you had best put that away. You will find it of little use here'**

Naruto put the kunai away, still tense.

"What do you mean by 'charge'?" he asked the blackness around him.

'**I mean what I say. You see, there is unbalance in my world. One tries to upset the delicate balance between light and darkness. This boy is the key to saving not only his own world, but all of them'**

"Wait a minute! All of them? As in other worlds?"

'**Yes. I will explain more, but first I must explain the reason I brought you here. You see…while the boy is our savior, he his raw, untested. He does not know how to fight. We could not take any chances. Our very survival is at stake here. Unfortunately, he is the 'chosen one', so we could not choose another to bear the burden. So instead we searched for others whom we could bestow our powers upon. Ones that could help him in his quest, and ensure his success'**

"And I'm one of these people?" Naruto asked.

'**Yes. You hold a great power within you. You also have incredible potential as well. We found others as well, ones from your world'**

"Wait. Why just my world?"

'**Your dimension is more the term. You see, no one else from our dimension could be bestowed with our power. So we had to use another. But before you can be bestowed with the power, you must prove yourself worthy to wield it'**

All this was becoming a bit much for Naruto. Being yanked out of his very dimension and being asked to help save another was quite a lot to swallow. But the voice did say there would be others from his world. Maybe people he knew? But he did say Naruto had to be tested, and Naruto was always up for a challenge.

"Alright. Bring it on" he said, smirking.

'**Good'**

Three flashes of light appeared before Naruto, and as they dissipated, three objects remained, floating at chest level. In the center, was a sword. It was roughly the size of a katana, but with no curve. To the left was a staff with an odd design on the top. It was a large circle with a smaller circle on the upper left and right. To the right was a black and red shield with a design identical to the design on top of the staff.

'**The first part of your test. You must choose a path. The strength of the warrior, one who destroys all in their path and never gives in'** the sword glowed as an indication.

'**The wisdom of the mystic, the one who can always see the right path and knows the way'** the staff glowed.

'**Or the power of the guardian, to protect yourself and those you care for with undying determination and fortitude'** the shield glowed.

Naruto stood, stroking his chin as he pondered.

'_Let's see. The power to destroy. The power to see the way. Or the power to protect those you care for'_

He smiled as he made his realization and walked to the shield.

'_Do you really have to ask?'_ he thought to himself as he grabbed the shield and put it on his arm. He noticed the other two disappeared. In another flash of light, a large white door appeared on one of the crown designs.

'**The next task lies through there'** the voice said as Naruto walked towards the door.

Pulling on the handle, Naruto pulled it open to find a bright light he couldn't see through. As he walked through the door, the light vanished, revealing another platform. This one had a different design on it. One of a person Naruto knew all to well.

'_Sasuke…'_ he thought as he inspected the design. It showed Sasuke with his back turned and glancing back, his face covered with the flame-like tattoos of the curse mark. The background was a mass of purple snakes with two yellow, serpentine eyes gazing from them.

'**Your betrayer'**

Normally, Naruto would have made some loud retort, saying that Sasuke hadn't betrayed them. That he was just being controlled like he had said to his perverted sensei so many times. But it was getting harder and harder for him to do that. He was slowly realizing that perhaps Jiraiya had been right, that Sasuke had truly betrayed them. And hearing this voice say it, Naruto was having a hard time denying this fact. He was pulled form his thoughts when some sense he didn't know he had alerted him of…something. He also noticed that the music emanating from the blackness had changed to a faster tempo and grown louder.

Looking to the black void around him, he noticed several…things…emerging from it.

They were small, only about three feet or so tall, and reminded Naruto vaguely of insects. They had small bodies and large, sphere-like heads with a pair of antennae. Their arms were gangly and their hands were like claws. They were completely black save their eyes which were a sickly yellow. Somehow, Naruto knew they were hostile. Glancing back the way he came, he noticed the door was gone.

'_Well, guess I'll have to take these things'_

Reaching into the two pouches on his waist, Naruto pulled out six kunai, one for each of them, and threw them at the creatures. To his shock and horror, as they reached them, they passed through the creatures like they weren't even there.

'**As I said before, you find those weapons to be of little use here'**

As one of the creatures leapt at him, Naruto retreated with a chakra-enhanced jump.

'_Damn! And all I have is that shield!'_ As the creatures approached him, Naruto examined the shield again.

'_Well, better then nothing I suppose'_ he thought as one of the creatures leapt at him again. Using the shield as a large club, he batted the creature away, smirking as it landed, obviously dazed.

'_Well, it's a start'_ his thoughts stopped as he noticed movement behind him. Turning, he noticed another one of the creatures leaping at him. He spun in an attempt to guard himself, but he wasn't fast enough. He held out his other hand in what he thought would be a vain attempt to deflect the attack. Right as the creature reached him however, another flash of light appeared in his hand. As it dissipated, Naruto saw something familiar.

'_The sword…?'_ Indeed, in his hand was the sword from before. Not one to complain about the sudden change though, Naruto quickly swung the sword at the demonic creature, slicing right through it with only the slightest resistance. At first he thought he'd been as unsuccessful as with the kunai. However, not one second after his sword swung through it, the creature seemed to evaporate into some kind of black soot or goop which quickly disappeared.

Deciding to slash first and ask questions later, he turned to the others as they rushed him, cleaving one in half as it reached him and batting another away with his shield.

The others seemed to take notice of this, and did something Naruto was not expecting. They seemed to become two dimensional and merge with the floor, moving around like before, like a shadow Naruto thought. Deciding to test the waters, Naruto drew a kunai and threw it at it. Instead of phasing through it like before, it bounced upward as if it had only hit the floor.

'_Okay, this makes things harder'_

But if he couldn't attack them, maybe they could attack him either? His strategizing was halted as he realized one was behind him. Spinning around, he saw it rise from the floor into three dimensions once again. Smirking as he realized he was right, Naruto blocked its attack with his shield and slashed through it with the sword.

Leaping up into the air, he flipped over the other two and landed behind them, slicing one in half with one motion and smashing the second with his shield, noticing that all three evaporated as the others had.

Getting to his feet, he was about to call out to the voice when it spoke.

'**Excellent. You have passed your first test. You are probably wondering what those creatures were'**

"Yeah" Naruto answered. "but first, how did I get the sword when I only chose the shield? I thought you said I could only choose one path?"

'**I did. But you also had to surrender a path. All three paths you had to make a decision on. To either choose, to keep, or to surrender. You chose the shield, kept the sword and surrendered the staff'**

Naruto nodded in understanding. It made sense. In life there were things you had to choose to obtain, choose to keep and choose to give up.

'**As for what those things were, they are known as 'Heartless'**

"Heartless…" Naruto repeated. The name certainly fit.

'**The Heartless are not actual creatures. Instead they are manifestations of the darkness in a person's heart, or soul as some might call it'**

"Darkness?"

'**Yes. For all souls have darkness or the ability to produce it. The darkness comes from negative emotions such as fear, anguish and most all, hate and anger. Those feelings eventually surface when the person dies, manifesting as a Heartless. It can even control and corrupt a person when they are still alive and even turn them into a heartless. They cower in darkness, feeding on anger and hate, until becoming heartless themselves'**

Naruto's face hardened as he thought of several individuals who fit that description.

"Wait! If all it takes for a Heartless to form is the darkness in a persons heart, why hasn't that happened in my world?"

'**Heartless do not exist in your dimension. Only the hearts of beings in this dimension can form heartless. As I was saying before, once formed, Heartless will instinctively seek out other hearts. They are mindless, acting only on instinct. They will attempt to steal the hearts of others, creating more heartless, regardless of the amount of darkness in the other's heart, for all hearts have darkness, and therefore the potential to create a heartless'**

"Wait, so since I'm not from this dimension, does this mean I'm immune to them? You said that only people from this dimension have that potential to become Heartless" Naruto said. If he were immune to them, it would probably make this job of his a whole lot easier.

'**No. You are not immune. And neither are any of the others we have recruited. You see, the reason the hearts of this dimension have the potential to become Heartless is because of a radiation of magical power. Now that you are in this dimension, you have been exposed to it, and therefore have the potential as well. This potential for darkness manifestation has only been increased by the imbalance between the two forces. For that reason, you cannot return to your own dimension until you fulfill your task. For if you were, you could unleash the Heartless into your dimension as well. When your task is complete, this increased potential will be gone, and upon your departure, you will leave behind your potential for becoming a heartless'**

"So I'm in for the long haul, huh? Well I didn't have any intention of leaving early anyway" Naruto answered.

Naruto's attention was drawn to his left as anther door appeared in a flash of light.

'**Your next test lies through there'**

"Just how many of these are there?"

'**You will know when you have completed them all'**

'_Guess that means 'I'll tell you when your done''_ Naruto thought to himself as he opened the door and stepped through.

The image on the next platform was familiar, yet at the same time, confusing.

--

On the platform was the image of a man with blonde, spiky hair very similar to his own. Naruto immediately knew who this was, having seen him in many history books and on the mountain in Konoha.

'_The Yondaime?'_

The young Kage was shown standing with a confident smirk on his face, a Rasengan formed in his left hand, and a three-pronged kunai in his right. The background was of a being Naruto had never seen before, but could chance a guess, knowing the jutsu the man had used. The figure seemed to be a purple-skinned demon of some kind with long, white spiky hair and held a tanto in its mouth. A single thought came to Naruto's mind as to the being's identity. Shinigami. The being that had been summoned by the Yondaime to seal the Kyuubi inside him (Naruto).

'**Your creator'** said the voice again.

Naruto didn't reply this time, understanding what the voice meant. The Yondaime had sealed the Kyuubi inside him. In a way, he had created what Naruto was today, since he couldn't be his father.

'_Then again, we do look alike…could it be…?'_

Naruto's thoughts were broken as he felt that sense again. He held the sword and shield in a defensive posture as he glared into the blackness, steeling himself for battle.

Out of the blackness emerged more heartless, though they were different from the others. They were taller, almost as tall as Naruto. Their heads were more angular and they seemed ganglier as well. Though they also had claws, they were smaller, but they also had a large blade emerging from each of their arms.

Realizing he should probably start naming them to avoid some confusion, Naruto thought back to how the first ones had turned 2-D like shadows.

'_Yeah. Shadows. That's what I'll call. And as for these…Neo-Shadows. Yeah that'll do. At least it sounds cool'_

The Neo-Shadows, five of them in total, stood in a line, as if waiting for some kind of signal. Deciding to give them one, Naruto smirked and gestured to himself with his finger.

"Bring it"

They charged.

--

Naruto was panting slightly as he sliced through the final enemy.

'_Yeah. Neo-Shadow does fit. Those guys are a lot stronger then the first bunch'_

Another door opened and Naruto stepped through into the familiar light. If the last platform had confused him, the next one confused him even further.

The image on the platform this time was of a man Naruto had only seen once before, but would never forget.

Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's brother.

The image showed the Akatsuki member in a pose not unlike the boy on the first platform, only his eyes were open, and he seemed to be staring at his right hand held in front of him, the left just hanging limp at his side. The background of the image was a mass of black flames that also appeared to be ravens in flight, along with a pair of Sharingan eyes staring out, though they were different then the Sharingan Naruto had seen before. Instead of the normal three tomes, they had a single, three-pointed tomoe that resembled a hikimi. The expression on the man's face was what really confused Naruto though. It was different then the blank, emotionless expression Naruto had seen on him the last time they had met. Here he almost seemed…sad. The way he looked at his hand…almost made it seem like he couldn't see it, like he was searching for it. Then Naruto noticed it. The Uchiha's Sharingan was deactivated, showing his normal black eyes.

'**Your ally'**

"What?!" Naruto yelled as he whirled around. "You can't mean…"

'**As I said before, I mean what I say. He is your main ally. One of the others we have recruited for this mission. We know of his connection to you, and that he was your enemy. But do not be so quick to judge. When you meet, you should ask him why he hunts you. The answer may surprise you. And by the time your task is complete, I say now that you shall be enemies no longer. Those who could be your greatest foe one day, could become your greatest ally the next. You have already seen the reverse to be true'**

Naruto grimaced as he understood what that meant. And maybe the voice was right. Maybe Itachi had a good reason for what he did to his clan. But what would Itachi think? Wouldn't he just be trying to capture him again?

'**Do not worry. He will be told the same thing about you. He is currently undergoing the same trials you are. Speaking of which…'**

--

As Naruto opened the next door, he had a moment to think about what had happened. As the light engulfed his vision, the voice spoke again.

'**You have done well so far. But steel yourself, for your final test is at hand. You must combat a single heartless. But this is unlike the other heartless you have dispatched up until now. Now you must combat…your own darkness'**

"My…my own darkness?" Naruto asked, apprehensive. He didn't like the feel of this.

'**You must overcome your own fear, for this mission is greater then any task you have ever undertaken. Needless fear has no place there. Now…go forth!'**

As the light dissipated, Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the person on it.

'_Hinata…'_

And it was Hinata, floating in the center of the design with her pale eyes closed, behind her was the Hyuuga emblem.

Before Naruto could think of what this could mean, his 'heartless sense', as he was beginning to call it, flared, meaning a heartless was nearby. That and the music had increased in tempo again. Glancing about, he noticed something. His shadow was moving, and he wasn't. His shadow stretched out, separating from his body and moving to the other end of the platform. The shadow rose, like one of the Shadow heartless coming into form. Though it was no normal heartless that rose out of the blackness. Naruto's eyes widened, and his hand began to feel weak.

"Hey…dobe"

--

Naruto gazed across the platform at his foe, his resolve already feeling weak.

'_Sasuke…'_

The Sasuke opposite him smirked, and drew a sword not unlike Naruto's own.

"Now I can finally kill you, and obtain the power I need"

He charged.

As he closed the distance between them, Naruto remembered what the voice had said.

'_That's right! This is my final test! I have to beat him!'_ With that, Naruto's hand tightened around his sword, and he rushed to meet his foe.

Their swords clashed, and Naruto grimaced. Sasuke was strong, stronger then he was. He jumped back, swinging his shield like a club, which Sasuke easily blocked.

"Is this the best you can do? You really are a dead last" the faux Uchiha taunted.

"Damn" Naruto swore as he jumped back, Sasuke almost right on top of him.

The ring of clashing swords rang across the platform as Naruto battled the shadow of his fears, but to no avail it seemed. No matter how much he battered the Uchiha, nothing seemed to work.

Trying to parry a blow, Naruto brought his sword along Sasuke's in an attempt to get a hit in. Instead, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand with his free one, causing him to drop the sword. Before Naruto could even realize this, a flash of gray knocked him back towards the edge of the platform, his shield shattered by the impact. Glancing back as he got to his feet, he saw Sasuke, his skin gray and pale, his hair long and dark, a black, cross-like mark on his face, and two giant, hand-shaped wings emerging from his shoulders. In his left hand, was Naruto's sword. Electricity crackled around the Uchiha as he smirked.

"Now, to obtain the power I need"

Naruto drew a kunai, even knowing it would do nothing, as he desperately tried to think of a plan. Then, a voice sounded in his head.

'**Why are you running?'** sounded the voice from before.

'**There's only one enemy and there's one of you. Why should you fear? Tell me Naruto…why haven't you called it? The only thing plugging your ears…is your own doubt'**

As Sasuke began to charge, Naruto's eyes leveled, all fear gone from them. He felt power gather in his hand, and himself

'**Abandon your fear. Turn and face him. Don't give an inch'**

His hand began to glow and his eyes shined a gleaming silver.

'**Now Naruto…advance! Never stop!'**

White light began to engulf his body and power swirled around him.

'**If you retreat you will age'**

White energy gather in his hand in the shape of a sword.

'**Be afraid and you'll die!'**

The kunai was vaporized in a flash of light.

'**NOW STRIKE HIM DOWN!!**'

"RAHHHH!!" Naruto screamed a battlecry as he spun around, releasing the power, sending a blast of white energy at his foe. The electricity around Uchiha was blown away, then his body consumed in white light.

Naruto gasped for breath, and heard the voice again.

'**Well done. You have passed your final test. Now you are ready. Good luck. The fate of trillions rests with you…Key Wielder'**

Naruto saw white, and fell again.

--

AN: Alright. Newest chapter. Don't have much to say here. Oh and if you haven't figured it out yet, this is going to be NaruHina.

Read and review (PLEASE!)


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto

"Hi"-Normal speaking

'_Voices in my head'_-Normal thinking

'**Demon'**-Voice of Destiny/Heartless/Greater Being speaking/Jutsu

'_**Mind Demon'**_-Greater Being/Heartless thinking

**Chapter II**

**Destiny's Call **

**Part 2:**

**The Light of Darkness**

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_A brown haired boy with spiky hair floats underwater. He slowly sinks underwater as he looks upwards._

"_I've been having…these weird thoughts lately"_

"_Like…is any of this for real…or not?"_

_The boy opens his eyes. He is standing on a beach. It is bright and sunny. He looks out to the water. He sees another boy standing out in the water with his back turned. He has long silver hair and is the same age._

_The brunette begins to walk towards his friend, but as he takes a step forward, he notices the water pulling outward, as if the sea was being drained. He looks towards the other boy and sees a massive wave forming in front of him as he turns around to look at the first boy. The silver-haired one extends his hand to the brunette. The boy runs out into the water, trying to help his friend. But he is too late. The wave crashes, knocking the brown-haired boy off his feet. From underwater, he sees his friend, still standing on the sand, his hand still outstretched. He tries to swim towards his friend, but the current pulls him away._

_The boy breaks the surface, gasping for breath. It is dusk now. He looks around, and sees a girl his age with red hair calling to him from the beach. He waves to her and runs through the water. He soon reaches her, his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. The girl laughs a little as he catches his breath. The boy looks up at her and stands up. She suddenly gasps and points to the sky. The boy follows her gaze and sees someone falling from the sky._

_It's him._

_He feels himself fall backwards, and keeps falling. He looks back up to his friend staring down at him. He reaches up to her, but she vanishes in a ripple of light. He falls from the sky among shooting stars and past the sun. He hits the water and goes under, sinking deeper and deeper. He opens his eyes, somehow he can breath. His feet touch the seabed, but as they do, a mass of birds fly up from the ground, revealing a stained-glass floor with the girl from before. The boy looks down at the platform, and then back at the birds flying off._

"Hey, Itachi! Wake up"

Itachi woke to someone shaking his shoulder. Knowing he had nothing to fear from the man next to him, the renegade Uchiha brushed the hand away and got to his feet.

The two Akatsuki members had been camping in a small clearing in Kaze no kuni, near the border with Tsuchi no kuni. Since Akatsuki wasn't set to move out for another year and a half (I've lengthened the timeskip by six months), the two shinobi had been mostly under the radar, only doing the occasional bounty or nuke-nin work.

As they walked down the road towards the Kaze-Tsuchi border, Itachi pondered the dream he had. In all actuality, he didn't sleep a lot. And the few times he did would be plagued with nightmares. A constant reminder of what he had done, of the hell he'd condemned himself to. Almost every time he would try to sleep, he could see them. The faces of his family, of his clan, their deaths permanently recorded by his Mangekyou Sharingan. But it wasn't just that. He had had no qualms with killing his clansman. They were arrogant, prideful and self-serving, with no thoughts to those outside the clan, to Konoha. They needed to be killed. And so he had accepted Sarutobi's mission without pause. But of all of the clan, there was one whose death had haunted him the most.

His mother, Mikoto Uchiha.

His father, Fugaku had been the worst of the Uchiha, an arrogant, self-serving bastard. But his mother… She had been different. She had been kind, loving, both to himself and Sasuke. She had _cared_, not just for the clan, but for those outside of it.

Or so he thought.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flashback:

_Seven years ago_

Itachi calmly strode through the Uchiha compound, the dead corpses of his clansmen lying in his wake. Garbed in his ANBU armor, the twelve-year old prodigy wore a look of grim determination on his face. Even as every bit of moral fiber in him, everything brought on by his family's teachings screamed how wrong all this was, Itachi pushed forward, crushing the family morals with his own.

It was wrong. But the alternative was even more wrong. Itachi would not stand idly by while his clan consigned Konoha, the village he loved above all else, to destruction. He would not allow the arrogance of his family to destroy his home. And so, when Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage had given him this assignment, he had accepted it without hesitation.

This was _necessary_. Both for the village and for the clan itself. Too long had the Uchiha been held back by the example set by Madara almost a century before. Too long had the Uchiha been the cold, aloof, and prideful creatures they were known as. In the end, they were not part of the village. They were more of an _ally_ at best. They had no true loyalty to village, or anyone but themselves.

It was time to change that.

After tonight, the Uchiha clan would be destroyed. It was true, perhaps they were a valuable weapon for Konoha, but a weapon that would just as easily turn on its master. If Itachi must consign himself to hell to save Konoha from its weapon, then so be it.

Itachi was broken from his internal reverie by shouting and the sound of running footsteps. Looking forward, he saw a group of his- no. Not his clansmen. These people were not his family. The only family he could acknowledge were his mother Mikoto, who had always been a kind and caring soul, and Sasuke, his little brother who was still at school, the only two Uchiha outside the compound at this time. Something Itachi had counted on.

It seemed as word had still not been spread that it was Itachi that was the attacking force and not some other village. The Uchiha's, five of them, four male and one female, four of them chunin level and one jounin it seemed, noticed Itachi walking towards them.

"Look! It's Itachi!" the one female of the group called as they saw him.

"Itachi? Oh thank Kami you're…" the chunin trailed off as he and his companions noticed the limp bodies littering the street behind the young ANBU.

"Wha… Itachi… What are you…" the one jounin began to stammer, his companions equally paralyzed with disbelief. Their eyes widened further as their eyes fell upon Itachi's. Upon the single three-bladed tomoe in each crimson eye.

"Tsukuyomi" Itachi's voice was a low whisper, yet it seemed to reverberate across the entire street.

As the five ninja began to fall unconscious to the ground, Itachi seemed to flicker out of existence. He reappeared past the falling bodies, his ANBU ninjato drawn and dripping blood. The five bodies landed with a soft thud, the blood leaking from their slit throats dying the ground a deeper crimson. Itachi walked on, not even passing a glance back.

'_Why is our Sharingan the color that it is? Why the black? Why the red?' _Itachi had once wondered. Now, after obtaining those terrible eyes, he knew.

'_They represent us. They show who we are. Souls black as night, bathing in the crimson blood of the innocent'_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken only 30 minutes, but the once mighty Uchiha clan was no more. In the span of less then an hour, the numbers of the Uchiha had gone from dozens, to only five. And now one of those five stood outside his house. The house of the clan head. Of his father and mother.

Itachi's eyes hardened further as he approached the door. In the end, it seemed that Madara had been a great help to his mission, having killed nearly half of the once mighty clan. Itachi could tell that the ancient Uchiha was now watching him, wherever he might be.

No matter what the Uchiha founder told him, Itachi would not be swayed by his lies. Madara was a threat to the village. The proof of that written all over the memorial to the Yondaime Hokage, and on the stomach of that great man's son. And after he had killed his father, Itachi vowed to end that other threat. He knew that Madara was more powerful then he was, but with the Mangekyou, he might just be able to end the evil man's life, even at the cost of his one. His one life was of no importance anymore.

'_When I'm done with Fugaku, you're next'_ Itachi promised himself as he calmly opened to door to the house.

As he stepped over the threshold, he sought out the man's chakra signature. That was unneeded however, as he heard the door to his left open and his target emerge.

"Itachi! What are you doing here?!" Fugaku yelled in disbelief. "Never mind that. Itachi, you have to find Sasuke! The council found out about the plan, there's an ANBU team slaughtering the clan, we nee-"

"I know" Itachi interrupted as Fugaku noticed the blood dripping from his ninjato.

"Y-You… You…" the Uchiha head stammered in shock as the truth dawned on him, but Itachi didn't give him time to do anything more then that.

As his eyes transformed to their Mangekyou form, Itachi uttered two simple words.

"Goodbye… father"

Fugaku's eyes rolled back into his head as they closed… for the last time.

Itachi sighed in weariness of the ordeal. The illusion he had put his father under had been far more powerful then the ones he used to incapacitate the others. The Tsukuyomi had literally overloaded the man's brain with so much pain that it simply shut down.

It was done now. Itachi turned to leave so he could deal with Madara. As he neared the door however, a gasp to his right caught his attention. A gasp in a voice he hoped never to hear in this time and place.

Even so, he turned his head toward the sound, his eyes wide, and beheld the shocked form of his mother standing over his father's corpse. Her eyes were on Itachi, wide with shock and fear, instantly understanding what he had done.

"Kaa-san" Itachi spoke in a low, weak voice, his head beginning to droop and shoulders slumping in defeat. He thought she had been out in the village, the only Uchiha besides Sasuke that wasn't in the compound. But he had miscalculated. He didn't want to kill her. Sure she was an Uchiha, but she was different. She was like him; kind, caring and compassionate, though he had been forced to bury such feelings once he became an ANBU. And, she was not part of the planned coup de tat. She, like Sasuke, was one he couldn't bring himself to kill.

"Itachi… why? Why did you…" she trailed off, on the verge of tears it seemed.

"It was necessary" he spoke in a soft, defeated tone. "They were a threat"

"Wha...?"

"You heard what they were going to do" Itachi continued, his head raised, conviction in his voice. "They were going to try to overthrow the village. Such a thing would only bring more death and destruction. I couldn't stand by while the village I love burned at the hands of my own kin"

"You… you…" Mikoto trailed off.

Itachi's voice and expression were solemn as he turned to the door again.

"I'm sorry Kaa-san. But I know that you can understand. You're the only one that ever did" He could tell she was shocked, fearful and distraught. But once the shock faded, he knew she would understand why he did this. She was the only one that had ever understood him.

"Betrayer…"

The young ANBU's black eyes widened as he heard the word. Not just the word itself, but the tone it was said with. The anger, betrayal and rage. Turning back to look at the form of his mother, he was shocked at what he saw. Mikoto now stood fully erect, her hands clenched into fists, her arms ramrod straight at her sides shaking with barely contained anger, her head downcast gazing at the floor, strands of her long black hair falling in front of her face.

But it was what she spoke to him that made his blood run cold.

"You betrayed us… for THEM?!"

And for the first time since accepting the mission, Itachi felt his resolve weaken into almost non-existence. The stoic Uchiha prodigy, possibly the greatest Uchiha since Madara himself, and first person to obtain Mangekyou since the Uchiha founder, took a step back. His eyes wide with shock, and incomprehension.

Itachi stood stock still, unable to comprehend what was happening. Why… Why was his mother doing this? Why, when she who was always so kind to others? Had he been wrong? Had he been so wrong about his own mother? The one whom he thought had always been one to understand him? The only one to show him true kindness? The one who had taught him compassion? The one who had saved him from becoming another one of the prideful, arrogant Uchiha's who were such a threat to Konoha and its people?

But if Mikoto's words before had chilled him to the core, her next words froze the blood in his veins.

"We… we gave you _everything_. You were the prodigy! You could become the greatest Uchiha since Madara himself! And you threw it all away? For _them_?! Konoha?!

"Kaa-san…" he spoke in a weakened voice, disbelief written all over his face, hoping beyond hope that this was just some elaborate genjutsu his father or some other Uchiha had cast on him. But how could that be? Every other Uchiha was dead. And his Sharingan would have easily seen through any illusion.

"Don't call me that" Mikoto growled, her voice dripping with venom. "Don't you _dare_ call me _that_!" she spoke again as she raised her head to gaze at the shocked and disbelieving form of her son, the three tomoe's of her complete Sharingan spinning in raging fury.

"You… you are not my son! No child of mine would do something… like this… He would fight for the clan! Not destroy it right as we are on the verge of our greatest achievement!"

"Greatest achievement…" Itachi trailed off, his eyes widening further. She _was_ part of the plan… She was part of the plot to overthrow Konoha… She was just like his father… Like all the rest…

So engrossed in his own thoughts was he, that he didn't notice what the woman across from him was doing. He didn't see her reach into her pocket. Didn't see her pull a kunai from it. Didn't see her shift into a combat stance. Didn't see her move, until she was upon him.

His body moved on its own, a testament to his own shinobi experience as Mikoto fell onto him.

Only the sheer pain of the kunai piercing his shoulder shook him from his disbelieving stupor. But as he gazed up at the raging form of his mother atop him, her left knee on his stomach pinning him to the ground, her left hand around his neck, and right hand on the kunai in his shoulder, the physical pain he was feeling became a fleeting feeling compared to a new pain he felt as his gaze fell upon her rage-filled eyes, and the knowledge of what she was trying to do.

He could have been stabbed a thousand times and not feel this much pain.

Mikoto was obviously not satisfied at this. Violently pulling her kunai from her son's shoulder, she brought it up above her head. All the while staring down at Itachi, a look of maddening fury and vengeful satisfaction in her eyes that were staring into Itachi's own widened, disbelieving ones.

As she held the deadly weapon, about to piece the heart of her own son, the crazed Uchiha matriarch spoke, her tone dripping with venom, and laced with disgust.

"I can't believe Sasuke ever looked up to you. How could he ever want to become like such an ungrateful traitor like you"

The mention of Sasuke broke Sasuke from his stupor once again, the disbelief in his eyes once more replaced with confusion, as he tried to comprehend what she was telling him.

Mikoto's next words, though still filled with venom, were laced with savage satisfaction. "But he'll see you for what you truly are when he returns. And with my tutelage, he will rebuild the clan and finish what Fugaku and I started!" And with that, she brought the weapon down.

But as the weapon was about to pierce Itachi's chest, it stopped. Mikoto's eyes were wide with shock as she beheld her son's face. No longer was it lank with confusion and disbelief. Now it was twisted and contorted in unadulterated _fury_, which was only amplified by the two tri-bladed sigils in his eyes.

For Mikoto's words had not sealed Itachi's fate as she had hoped. No, they had done quite the opposite. As Itachi beheld the woman above him, the frozen blood in his veins was melted by the rage that was now coursing through him. Rage at the one who had brought him into this world. Rage at what she would do. At what she would turn Sasuke into. It was the other reason Itachi knew he had to exterminate the clan. Sasuke was young, innocent, and not yet tainted by the Uchiha arrogance and pride. He would never let his brother be turned into _that_. That which his mother would mold him into.

No. She was not worthy of his love. She never was. She never would be. And so, Itachi activated his cursed Mangekyou eyes, and consigned his mother to oblivion.

"Amaterasu"

The woman's eyes widened, as her world was consumed by black fire.

Itachi looked on in grim satisfaction as Mikoto rolled off him, covered in black flames. He knew the flames posed no threat to him, being made of his own chakra. He could barely discern her face among the fire, mouth open in a silent scream as he got to his feet. Soon, no more then a few seconds after he had spoken the word, the women was no more. All that was left was the small bits of flame on the floor were she had come to rest. With a wave of his hand Itachi dismissed the flames, already weary of using the mighty Amaterasu. He could only imagine what using the Susanno would take out of him.

He was broken from his thoughts as he felt the weak, but still distinguishable chakra signature of Sasuke approaching.

Sighing, Itachi put up a complex genjutsu to make it seem like his mother's body was laying there in the room, and prepared to put up the act that he hoped would save his brother from his clan's fate.

_End Flashback_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, seven years later, Itachi was still shaken by the final encounter with his mother. How he had killed her without hesitation. He knew he had to, that she was a threat. But even so, it still weighed heavily on him.

And now wondered… had he been wrong about Sasuke too? Thinking back to that day in the hotel 18 months ago, Itachi recalled what he had seen. What he had seen when he seen in his brothers eyes. The hate, the rage, the _fury_. It bore an all too familiar resemblance to his mother, how she had looked right before plunging the kunai into his shoulder.

Had he misjudged Sasuke? The thoughts had raced through Itachi's head as he and Kisame fled the area after Jiraiya's arrival.

At the time, Itachi thought nothing of it. After all, he had planned on such an eventuality. Sasuke's mad cries of vengeance were expected of him, considering all that Itachi had done to him. But it was what had happened next, only two months later, that had shook Itachi to the core.

Sasuke betrayed Konoha.

Itachi had hoped that Sasuke would see what he had. That he would become a goal for Sasuke, that Sasuke's quest for power to kill him would keep him in Konoha. And yet Sasuke cast Konoha aside like a broken kunai.

It was an action worthy of… an Uchiha.

And so, for the past year and a half, Itachi pondered his decision. Had he been wrong about Sasuke? Should he have told Sasuke the truth right then and there seven years ago? Originally, Itachi had feared that if Sasuke knew the truth, it would drive him away from Konoha, and turn him into one of the old Uchiha's. But now, ignorance seemed to have made little difference. In fact, Itachi's ponderings had led him to a question that he would never be caught dead asking before his brother's defection.

Should he have even let Sasuke live that night?

To Itachi's left, Kisame watched the emotion's play out across his friend's face. To most people, reading Itachi's monotonous face would be nigh-impossible. But after traveling with him for the past six years, Kisame had learned how to read the stoic Uchiha's face. And he didn't like what he was seeing.

"Bad dreams?" he broached the topic. Kisame was one of the few who knew the truth about the Uchiha massacre, Itachi having told the shark-like ninja about it a few years ago. After a few years traveling together, Kisame had gained Itachi's trust to keep this secret, as well as the secret of the true reason he had joined Akatsuki. To keep Madara away from Konoha.

Needless to say, Kisame had been quite shocked to learn that the hyper-active, orange mask-wearing idiot known as Tobi was really the founder of the Uchiha clan and the creator of their organization, even more powerful then Pein himself. But Kisame had never really cared for the organization that much, so his friendship and loyalty to Itachi far outweighed any loyalty to Akatsuki. So Kisame knew he would stand by Itachi when the time came to destroy Madara.

"No… they weren't about my past sins for once"

"Really? What were they about?" Now this made the former Mist-nin curious. He knew that all Itachi ever dreamed about was how he had murdered his clan and how he had killed his own mother. It was the reason why he never slept much. So naturally, he was very interested as to what else the Uchiha might have dreamt about.

"I'm not sure. It was rather confusing actually"

"Well… why don't you describe it?"

This brought a small, almost invisible smile to Itachi's face. His friend was always a very curious person. But then again, he supposed he'd be curious too given the situation. He was about to begin when something very unexpected happened.

'_**You are needed'**_

"Hey Kisame, did you just hear that?"

"Yeah, wha-?"

Itachi's world turned white as he felt himself falling backwards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Itachi floated in complete blackness. What struck him as odd was that it wasn't dark. He could still see his body as if it were a bright as day, but he couldn't see beyond. It was as if he was in a black void. He could feel himself floating downwards. After a few seconds, or maybe hours, he felt his feet land on something solid. Getting his balance as he stood, Itachi looked down. He could just make out some kind of platform under his feet.

Before he could register any of this however, he instinctively brought his hands in front of his head as a mass of birds that had been gathered on the platform took flight, soaring off into the blackness. The black-haired teen gazed at their retreating forms, his mind racing.

'_Just like my dream…'_

Looking back down, already having an inkling of what he would see, Itachi saw he was standing on a stained-glass platform like the one from his dream, although the design on it was different. It wasn't the red headed girl from his dream, but it was someone else from it. Painted on the glass was the spiky-haired boy, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, in his hand was a sword of some kind. It basically looked like a giant key. It looked a bit ridiculous, but at the same time, fitting for some reason. The background of the painting was one of an island, one Itachi recognized as the one from his dream. Along the edge of the design, going all the way around the platform, was a ring of circles, each with a crown design in them.

The Uchiha suddenly realized something else strange. He could hear music. It was a deep orchestral with an organ accompanied by some kind of strange chanting with no source other then the blackness around him.

Itachi was broken from his observations as the same voice from before spoke up.

'**Your charge'**

Itachi glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice. But his efforts seemed to be in vain as the voice seemed to emanate from all around him. Even more unsettling was the fact that he could neither find nor dispel any trace of a genjutsu, even when he activated his Sharingan.

'**Do not try to find me, for you will not find me. And turn off those eyes of yours. You will find them of little use here'**

Doing so, Itachi was shocked to discover something.

He could see.

Of course he knew of the true curse of Mangekyou Sharingan. That once you obtained it, your vision would continue to deteriorate as you used it until you fulfilled the remainder of the contract, to implant the Mangekyou Sharingan of your sibling. Ever since obtaining the eyes, Itachi had been progressing further and further into blindness.

So then… why could he see now?

Deciding to leave that question for later, Itachi voiced his other question.

"What do you mean by 'charge'?" he asked the blackness around him.

(At this point, I'm just going to skip the explanation. It's pretty much the same as what Naruto got, and I don't want to waste writing space with that, so I'm just moving on to the point where Itachi gives his answer like Naruto)

All this was becoming a bit much for Uchiha prodigy. Being yanked out of his very dimension and being asked to help save another was quite a lot to swallow. But the voice did say there would be others from his world. Maybe people he knew? And perhaps, just maybe, if he was right about Sasuke, and his brother had become a revival of the old Uchiha, perhaps he could find some atonement for his mistake.

"Alright. I'm in"

'**Excellent'**

Three flashes of light appeared before Itachi, and as they dissipated, three objects remained, floating at chest level. In the center, was a sword. It was roughly the size of a katana, but with no curve. To the left was a staff with an odd design on the top. It was a large circle with a smaller circle on the upper left and right. To the right was a black and red shield with a design identical to the design on top of the staff.

'**The first part of your test. You must choose a path. The strength of the warrior, one who destroys all in their path and never gives in'** the sword glowed as an indication.

'**The wisdom of the mystic, the one who can always see the right path and knows the way'** the staff glowed.

'**Or the power of the guardian, to protect yourself and those you care for with undying determination and fortitude'** the shield glowed.

Itachi looked to each of the three objects, scrutinizing each of them with a critical gaze.

'_The power to destroy. The power to see the way. Or the power to protect those you care for'_ Itachi sighed as he pondered. He wanted to think that he could be worthy of the staff, that he could see the way. But he was not wise. He had misjudged his clan, his mother, and even his own younger brother. And many had suffered for his misjudgment. And the shield… how he wanted to be a shield, how he had tried to be a shield to those he cared for. But he couldn't. He was an Uchiha. He couldn't be a guardian. That was the entire reason he had left Konoha. To protect it not with the shield, but with the sword.

Itachi sighed as the answer came to him.

'_I suppose there's no choice'_ he thought to himself as he walked forward and gripped the sword by the handle.

As he did, he noticed the other two disappeared. In another flash of light, a large white door appeared on one of the crown designs.

'**The next task lies through there'** the voice said as Itachi walked towards the door.

Pulling on the handle, the dark-haired teen pulled it open to find a bright light he couldn't see through. As he walked through the door, the light vanished, revealing another platform. This one had a different design on it. One of a person Itachi knew all to well.

'_Madara'_ he thought to himself, face already contorting into a grimace.

The image on the floor depicted the dark founder of the Uchiha clan shrouded in darkness. The background depicted the image of the great Bijuu-sealing statue that Madara himself had built, the entire perimeter shrouded in black flames.

'**Your darkness'**

Itachi could do not but agree with that statement. Madara was the source of all the evil that the Uchiha clan had released into his world. It was he that took command of the Uchiha all those years ago. It was he who led them on their warmongering path. It was he that instilled the arrogant and egocentric ideals that so disgusted Itachi. And it was he that had let the Kyuubi loose on Konoha fourteen years ago.

The thought of that brought a grim smile of satisfaction to Itachi's face. It was ironic how that plan may have very well sowed the seed for Madara's downfall. Itachi was no fool. He could see through the plan of Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage. He knew what the man had been planning when he sealed the Kyuubi in his own son. He was creating Konoha's greatest defense against Madara. With Kyuubi's power harnessed by Naruto, the village would possess their greatest weapon against the likes of Madara and Pein.

He was pulled form his thoughts when some sense he didn't know he had alerted him of… something. He also noticed that the music emanating from the blackness had changed to a faster tempo and grown louder.

Looking to the black void around him, he noticed six…things…emerging from it.

They were small, only about three feet or so tall, and reminded Itachi vaguely of insects. They had small bodies and large, sphere-like heads with a pair of antennae. Their arms were gangly and their hands were like claws. They were completely black save their eyes which were a sickly yellow. Somehow, Itachi knew they were hostile. Glancing back the way he came, he noticed the door was gone.

Returning his gaze to the approaching creatures, Itachi slowly drew his left from his Akatsuki cloak and placed the sword in one of his ninja pouches to act as a makeshift scabbard. Bringing them together, Itachi's hands seemed to blur as he went through a quick series of seal. One that he had done countless times.

Opening his mouth, the dark haired teen breathed out as he completed the seals.

'_Katon: Goukakyuu no jut-'_ Itachi stopped dead in his tracks as he realized something.

Nothing was happening.

Trying to figure out what had happened, Itachi came to an even more shocking conclusion.

He couldn't feel his chakra.

It was as if all of his chakra was seemingly… gone. Like he had none whatsoever.

'**This is a test of your resolve. Of your dedication to your path. Such things other then the path are useless in this place'**

Itachi had just registered this as he realized one of the creatures was almost upon him. Acting on instinct, Itachi's hand went to the sword on his belt, drawing it in a quick motion as the demonic creature leapt at him. With a quick swipe, the gleaming blade passed through the creature. At first, Itachi thought it hadn't been effective, like the creatures were some kind of intangible specters. But those worries were soon dispelled as the being seemed to evaporate into some kind of black soot or goop which quickly disappeared.

Letting a small sigh of relief, Itachi steeled his resolve as he glared at the remaining enemies, both hands now gripping the sword. The creatures looked to be suddenly wary of him, and did not move. Itachi raised an eyebrow in curiosity, until he realized something.

There were only four of enemies in front of him, and he had only dispatched one.

Itachi's eyes widened as he heard the soft patter of feet on the glass behind him. His shinobi impulsive kicking in, Itachi spun in a quick motion, the sword swinging with him, and right into the beast that had leapt at him from behind. Just like the first, the creature turned to a black soot or smoke-like substance before vanishing.

Looking back, Itachi's gaze hardened further as he saw the rest of the creatures charging, trying to capitalize on the distraction their companion had caused. In response, Itachi reached into his ninja pouch and retrieved four shuriken, one for each of them, and threw them at the creatures. To his shock and horror, as they reached them, they passed through the creatures like they weren't even there.

'_Damn, so it's only the sword huh?'_ Itachi thought to himself as he hacked through the first of the four with the weapon. He just barely registered the voice saying something about those weapons being useless in this world when he noticed one of the creatures coming at him from his left side.

Knowing that his right hand and the sword were already occupied with the other two, Itachi threw his hand out in desperation, hoping that the chakra he had tried to concentrate there would be enough to block the creatures attack. Right as the creature reached him however, another flash of light appeared in his hand. As it dissipated, Itachi saw something familiar.

'_The staff…?'_ Indeed, in his hand was the sword from before. Knowing that he didn't have time to complain about the sudden change though, Itachi quickly swung the staff at the demonic creature. The oddly shaped weapon sliced right through it with only the slightest resistance.

Having already taken out the fifth creature with the sword in his right hand, Itachi deftly brought his hands together, bring both weapons down on the final creature, destroying it just like the others.

Getting to his feet, he was about to call out to the voice when it spoke.

'**Excellent. You have passed your first test. You are probably wondering what those creatures were'**

"Yes" Itachi answered. "but first, how did I get the staff? I only chose the sword. I thought you said I could only choose one path?"

'**I did. But you also had to surrender a path. All three paths you had to make a decision on. To either choose, to keep, or to surrender. You chose the sword, kept the staff and surrendered the shield'**

Itachi looked down at the new weapon in his hand, pondering those words. He hadn't chosen the staff because he wasn't worthy. He hadn't been able to see the true faces of those closest to him. He had misjudged not only his mother, but his own brother. How could he be worthy of that wisdom?

'**One mistake does not make a man any less wise. If anything, that is **_**what**_** makes a man wise. You are not only wise yourself, but you can see your own faults and mistakes. You see your mistakes and wish to right them. That in of itself makes you a far wiser man then most others'** the voice said, as if reading his thoughts. **'Besides, paths are chosen **_**by**_** us. Not **_**for**_** us'**

The young Uchiha felt his eyes widen at that thought. Was that true? Could the voice be right? Was he worthy of that, despite his past mistakes?

The voice interrupted his musings as it spoke again.

'**As for what those things were, they are known as 'Heartless'**

(I'm just going to skip the heartless explanation too. It's the same thing as in Naruto's version)

Itachi's attention was drawn to his left as anther door appeared in a flash of light.

'**Your next test lies through there'**

"Just how many of these are there?"

'**You will know when you have completed them all'**

Itachi seemed to just accept that with a nod.

--

The next platforms image was as familiar to Itachi as the last, but for quite the opposite reason.

On the platform was someone whom Itachi had looked up to for almost his entire life. The one who had first instilled upon him the ideals that he lived by so passionately. The one who had quite possible saved him from falling into the same pit of darkness that consumed the rest of his clan.

"Minato-sama…"

The young Kage was shown standing with a confident smirk on his face, a Rasengan formed in his left hand, and one of his trademark Hirashin kunai that made him so famous in his right. The background was of a being Itachi had never seen before, but could easily chance a guess, knowing the third and final jutsu that had made the man so famous in Konoha. The figure seemed to be a purple-skinned demon of some kind with long, white spiky hair and held a tanto in its mouth. A single thought came to Itachi's mind as to the being's identity. Shinigami. The God of Death Himself, summoned by the Yondaime in order to seal the Kyuubi no Kitsune within his own son, Naruto Uzumaki, or Namikaze as his true surname was.

'**Your savior'** the voice spoke.

The voice's words brought a small smile to Itachi's face. It was true. Minato Namikaze was in many ways his savior. It was that great man's ideals that he tired so much to follow. To give his life to protect the village he loved so much, and not in the way most thought. When he had first began his shinobi training at the extremely young age of five, he had been forced to watch the Kyuubi attack from afar, having assisted in the village's evacuation, and had been shocked and awed by the compassion the man had shown for the village, not only rushing out into battle against the demon without care for his own well-being, but then sacrificing his own life to end the beast's reign of destruction.

But at the same time, he had quite possibly made the same kind of mistake that Itachi did. The vessel he had chosen for Kyuubi, the one he had selected to be gifted with the beast's nigh-infinite power, the one he had picked to be the villages true savior and guardian, his own son, had been met with only ridicule and hate. Itachi had long been disgusted with the contempt the villagers showed for the young boy, to the point where he almost questioned his loyalties to the village.

The Uchiha's thoughts were broken as he felt that sense again. He held the sword and staff in a defensive posture as he looked out into the blackness, steeling himself for battle once again.

Out of the blackness emerged more heartless, though they were different from the others. They were taller, only slightly shorter then Itachi. Their heads were more angular and they seemed ganglier as well. Though they also had claws, they were smaller, but they also had a large blade emerging from each of their arms.

These new heartless, five of them in total, stood in a loose line, as if waiting for some kind of signal. Itachi smirked. If they were going to let him make the first move, if was only polite that he should oblige them.

He charged.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Itachi panted lightly as the last of the heartless fell to black soot, his sword skewering its head.

'_Heh, they certainly are getting tougher'_

Another door opened and Itachi stepped through into the familiar light. The next platform though, confused him. Though he did find it a bit appropriate, considering the image on the last platform.

'_Naruto?'_

The image showed the Kyuubi junchuuriki, but he looked different than Itachi remembered from their last encounter. He seemed… older. Understandable actually considering that it had been 18 months, and someone his age tends to change quite a lot in such a short time. His attire also seemed to have changed from a bright orange jumpsuit to something darker. He was garbed in a black combat boots with dark orange pants along with plain black shirt with a black combat vest similar to ones worn by Konoha chunin under a dark orange unzipped trench coat with a black flame design on the bottom. He also wore a pair of black fingerless gloves. His Konoha head band, though still tied around his neck, now had black fabric instead of blue. He was standing upright, his right hand thrown upward high above his head. In that hand was spinning orb that Itachi thought at first might be a Rasengan, except this one was larger, and seemed to be a gleaming white instead of the normal blue. And there was the three massive scythe-like blades emerging from it, making it look like some giant shuriken. In fact, there seemed to almost be a swirling wind around the boy. Like he was radiating some great power. But the most curious thing was what emerged from the boys shoulders.

A pair of pure white, angelic wings.

The background was also very familiar to the young Uchiha. Emblazoned behind the blonde was the dark-orange furred form of the Kyuubi, its head raised high and mouth open as if letting out a great roar and it's nine tails flailed out behind its body in a spiral formation. The entire perimeter of the design of ringed with a fiery pattern that seemed to leap outward like a gusting wind. The background was quite faint, but Itachi was pretty sure that he could make out several concentric circles in a design that he found familiar, but just couldn't place.

'**Your ally'**

Itachi's eyes widened as the implications of what the voice said sunk in.

"Wait, you don't mean…"

'**I mean what I say. He is your main ally. One of the others we have recruited for this mission. And we also know of his connection to you, how he may very well think of you. But do not fear that animosity. You may yet find common ground. And don't you think this could be what you might be searching for? What better way to seek redemption then aiding the son of the man you so admired?'**

Itachi's gaze softened as he thought about what the voice said, deciding not to press the question of how it knew so much about him. It was true, he did wish for redemption for the mistakes he had only just realized. And he supposed the voice had a point. Working with Naruto, son of the man he had so idolized, might be able to help him at least find some way to balance the scales. Besides, working with the boy might be interesting to say the least. Itachi had always sympathized with the boy's plight, being hated by the village. In fact, he had even served as Naruto's ANBU guardian for several years prior to his leaving, so it was only natural that he would develop some fondness for the boy that he looked after. Itachi, as one of the Sandaime's most trusted agents, had been one of the few privy to knowledge of Naruto's heritage. And watching over Naruto had been the only time in his life that Itachi questioned his loyalty to Konoha. How could these people shun and hate the person who protected, and was still protecting, them from the greatest of the bijuu? How could they do that to one who could potentially be the greatest shinobi that ever lived? And how could they do that to the very son of their greatest hero? Granted, they didn't know about the last one, but their misplaced anger still disgusted Itachi. During that time prior to the massacre, Itachi had come to view Naruto much like he had Sasuke. And now, it seemed like he would have the opportunity to continue one of the most important duties he had ever been given, but this time, as a comrade rather then a guardian, fighting alongside the blonde. But did Naruto know that? It might be a bit difficult getting the blonde to see things from his point of view.

'**Do not worry. He will be told the same thing about you. He is currently undergoing the same trials you are. Speaking of which…'**

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Itachi opened the next door, he had a moment to think about what had happened. As the light engulfed his vision, the voice spoke again.

'**You have done well so far. But steel yourself, for your final test is at hand. You must combat a single heartless. But this is unlike the other heartless you have dispatched up until now. Now you must combat…your own darkness'**

"My own darkness?" Itachi asked, apprehensive. He didn't like the feel of this. "What do you mean?"

'**You must overcome your own fear, for this mission is greater then any task you have ever undertaken. Needless fear has no place there. Now…go forth!'**

As the light dissipated, the dark-haired teen's eyes widened as he recognized the person on it.

'_Anko…?'_

And it was the purple haired woman that Itachi had been friends with before his self-imposed exile, standing atop a massive purple snake, with a smaller one sitting on her shoulders. They had actually gotten along quite well. She was the only one outside of Mikoto that he felt he could truly open up to. He also greatly sympathized with her situation, and her torture at the hands of Orochimaru. After the Snake Sannin had fled and Anko had become a special jounin, she had become friends with Itachi, having both worked in the torture and interrogation unit. He had become in many respects, an emotional crutch for her, keeping her up even while so many hated her for what she was. Maybe, had he not had to leave, their relationship might have become something more. But that was in the past, even though Itachi wouldn't mind a companionship like that at all…

Before Itachi could think of what this could mean, the same 'heartless sense', flared, meaning a heartless was nearby. That and the music had increased in tempo again. Glancing about, he noticed something. His shadow was moving, and he wasn't. His shadow stretched out, separating from his body and moving to the other end of the platform. The shadow rose, rising up and taking a physical form. Itachi steeled himself, recalling what the voice had said back on the second platform.

'_I'm ready for you Madara'_

But it was not a heartless version of Madara Uchiha that formed before him. Itachi's eyes suddenly widened, and his hand began to feel weak.

"Hello… my son"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Itachi Uchiha gazed across the glass-like platform at his foe, his iron-hard resolve crumbling for what seemed like only the second time in his life, and at the sight of the same person.

'_Kaa-san…'_

The shadowy form of Mikoto Uchiha smirked darkly in a psychotic manner, the three-tomoed Sharingan in her eyes only augmenting the haunting image. Then, she held out her hands, palms open as more shadow-like forms gathered in them, morphing and coalescing into a sword and staff much like Itachi's own.

"I've been waiting for you Itachi" she whispered. "Now, I can finally take vengeance for the Uchiha!"

With that, she charged.

As she closed the distance between them, Itachi recalled what the voice had told him.

'_Yes… This _is_ my final test. I beat her before… I can be her AGAIN!'_ With that, Itachi's hands tightened around his weapons, his resolve returning to him, and he rushed to meet his foe.

Their swords clashed and Itachi grimaced under the force. The woman was strong, far stronger then she should have been, stronger then even he was. Itachi's thoughts were broken as the fake Uchiha swung her staff at incredible speed, aiming to crush his head with sheer force alone.

'_And faster too'_ the dark-haired teen thought to himself as he ducked beneath the strike and parried the blow with his own staff. Moving to counterattack, Itachi moved the now-free staff and put it into a forward stabbing motion right at Mikoto's face. But the faux Uchiha Matriarch seemed to sense his every move. And with a flick of her wrist, she knocked Itachi's sword away and block the staff strike with it. Itachi could almost _hear_ the wood creak under the pressure.

"You see Itachi?" Mikoto's shadowy form taunted, "You have become weak! You have forsaken your clan, so you have forsaken your greatest strength!"

"Strength…" Itachi whispered, even knowing that it was futile to try to argue with the specter, "You know NOTHING OF STRENGTH!"

With that, with all his strength, he brought his foot up and kicked Mikoto in the stomach, knocking her back as Itachi continued his furious assault.

The ring of clashing swords rang across the platform as Itachi battled the shadow of his fears with all his strength and skill, but to no avail it seemed. No matter how much he battered the Uchiha, nothing seemed to work.

Knocking a sword blow aside with his staff, Itachi tried to stab forward with his sword in a desperate bid to catch her off guard. But just like all the other times, his mother's doppelganger seemed to be able to predict his every move. Moving her own arm forward along his, Mikoto grabbed his arm by twisting her arm and the staff around it, completely immobilizing his wrist and hand.

Momentarily stunned, Itachi was unable to counter as she knocked the sword from his hand and brought her own sword down again. Reacting purely on his shinobi instinct, Itachi brought the staff up in a block of desperation. The weapon didn't last a second. With a defenaing crack, the wood shattered into splinters and Itachi was sent flying, landing hard on his chest near the edge of the platform. Glancing forward as he got to his feet, he saw Mikoto, shrouded in darkness, her eyes transformed into the three-bladed hikimi's of the Mangekyou, and in her left hand, was Itachi's sword, her own sword and staff held in her right.

"Now, for vengeance" she sneered.

Itachi's hand went for a kunai, even knowing it would be a futile effort as he stood weakly, desperately trying to think of a plan as Mikoto advanced slowly towards him.

'**Why are you running?'** sounded the voice from before.

'**There's only one enemy and there's one of you. Why should you fear? Tell me Itachi…why haven't you called it? The only thing plugging your ears…is your own doubt'**

As Mikoto began to charge, Itachi's eyes leveled, all fear gone from them. He felt power gather in his hand, and himself

'**Abandon your fear. Turn and face her. Don't give an inch'**

His hand began to glow and his eyes transformed to their Mangekyou form, only this time, they had four blades instead of three, and shined with a silver outline.

'**Now Itachi…advance! Never stop!'**

White light began to engulf his body and power swirled around him.

'**If you retreat you will age'**

White energy gathered in his hand in the shape of a sword.

'**Be afraid and you'll die!'**

Itachi leveled the sword of light at the dark form before him.

'**NOW STRIKE HIM DOWN!!**'

"Now DIE!!" Itachi screamed as the sword shot an awesome blast of energy out in a line, right at the oncoming heartless. The dark energy around Mikoto was vaporized, then her body consumed in white light.

Itachi gasped for breath, and heard the voice again.

'**Well done. You have passed your final test. Now you are ready. Good luck. The fate of trillions rests with you…Key Wielder'**

Itachi saw white, and fell again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Ugh FINALLY! It took me forever to come up with this chapter. I ended up having to just take a lot of stuff from the last chapter and put it in this one (as you have no doubt noticed). Oh well. At least I can finally move on with the story.

By the way, I changed Anko's age in this story. She's Itachi's age now (so that would be about 18-19).

Concerning Mikoto, I don't think I made her dark in this story. I know most people make her a kind, caring person in their stories, but remember she WAS a part of the planned coup de tat plot. Just look at the chapter where Madara tells Sasuke about it, so I don't really consider her OOC. And nobody's really tried it before so I thought I'd give it a shot.

And yes, I put a lot of Itachi angst in this chapter. But I think it fits him. I mean, Itachi is pretty much the tragic hero of Naruto. Just as Naruto's test was meant to get him to forget Sasuke, Itachi's was to make him realize his past mistakes and start down the path to redemption, in his own eyes and in others.

And if you didn't notice, yes Itachi is going to be paired with Anko.

Now see if you can guess who the sixth and last member of their motley crew of awesomeness shall be.

Read and Review.

No seriously, **Review**

Please?

You know you want to.

I'll give you a cookie

A really BIG cookie


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto

"Hi"-Normal speaking

'_Voices in my head'_-Normal thinking

'**Demon'**-Voice of Destiny/Heartless/Greater Being/Kyuubi speaking/Jutsu

'_**Mind Demon'**_-Greater Being/Heartless/Kyuubi thinking

**Chapter III**

**Shattered World**

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto heard crashing waves and blowing wind as he opened his eyes. He was standing on a windswept beach on an island. The sky was dark, filled with black storm clouds. Naruto knew they were anything but normal.

"What the hell?!" a strangely familiar voice spoke up.

"Hey what just happened?" another voice, this one female that Naruto recognized, said.

"What the…? Where am I, un?" said another, unfamiliar male voice.

Looking behind him, Naruto saw five other people, most of which he was at least acquainted with, and most of whom were pretty confused as to their location. To his left in front of him was the women he remembered from the chunin exams, Anko Mitarashi. Next to her was a girl he immediately recognized. Hinata Hyuuga. In front of him to his right was a tall man with blue skin in a black cloak with red clouds, a massive sword in wrappings on his back. Kisame Hoshigaki, as he recalled. Next to the shark-like man was someone Naruto had not seen before. He was also wearing an Akatsuki cloak, though he had long, platinum blonde hair that reminded Naruto of Ino. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that his voice was obviously male, Naruto would have thought he was a girl. It was then that everyone noticed everyone else.

"What the…Kisame? Why are you here?" the blonde asked.

"Deidara? I have no idea? Wait, aren't those Konoha-nins?" Kisame replied.

"Hey, aren't you Hinata Hyuuga? Oh shit! Akatsuki!" Anko said as she drew a kunai.

"Calm down everyone. There's a reason we're here" a calm voice said from Naruto's right. Naruto turned to see someone he knew for sure would be here.

Itachi Uchiha.

Everyone else turned to see the renegade Uchiha.

"Itachi? Do you know why were here? Wait! Why's the Kyuubi junchuuriki here too?"

"We're here, because we've been called here" Naruto said.

Itachi nodded. "And I take it you recognize this place too, Naruto?"

"So you had that dream too?" Naruto asked. Itachi nodded again.

"Um…can SOMEONE explain what the fuck is going on? Are you saying were going to have to work with those two?!" Anko yelled.

"We'll explain later," Itachi said, "we have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment" Naruto nodded. His heartless sense had been going off for a while now.

Glancing around, they saw they were surrounded by dozens of Shadow heartless.

"Wha…what are those things?" Hinata said.

"Heartless" Naruto said, knowing his kunai would do little good.

"Huh?" the blonde, Deidara asked.

"Their hostile" Itachi elaborated.

"Well, not for long" Anko said, drawing some kunai.

"Anko, wait!"

The kunais went flying, and went right through the heartless. Everyone but Naruto and Itachi looked on in shock.

"As I was saying," Itachi continued. "They can only be harmed by chakra. In other words, a chakra based weapon or attack"

"Chakra based weapon, huh?" Kisame grinned as he drew his sword. "No problem" he said while Hinata assumed a Jyuuken stance.

Naruto cursed, wishing he still had that sword. Then he realized something. The power he had felt. The power that had defeated the Sasuke-heartless. He could still feel it. He could feel it in his hand, pulsing, begging to be released. Naruto decided to do just that. He opened his hand, as if grasping a sword, and then, in a flash of light, he was.

Examining the sword, he realized what the voice had meant when it called him 'Key Wielder'. The sword had a gold, pentagon-shaped guard, not unlike the sword the boy from his dream had been holding in the engraving on the platform, but apart from that was far different. It was longer then the boy's, practically a nodachi. The blade was far more elaborate too. The outside of the blade was shaped like a large cleaver with long etchings and saw-like edges that reminded Naruto of raging wind. On the inside, near the guard, were five spike-like protrusions that pointed back towards the hilt. At the end, on the inside on the blade, was a design that looked like the Rasengan, from which, three white scythe blades emerged, pointing at three different angles. On the end of the chain on the hilt was a spiral identical to the one on his coat. Only one thought went through Naruto's head.

'_Sweet!'_

It was then that Naruto noticed something else; the heartless seemed to suddenly be wary, almost afraid of this weapon. Naruto adopted a wicked smirk, and flew into them, hacking through the Heartless, the masses of darkness dissipating with each blow.

Itachi watched the Junchuuriki fight his way through the heartless.

'_So that's what that voice meant. And if I went through the same thing he did…then I should be able to…'_ Itachi concentrated, and in a flash of light, he was holding a key-like sword as well.

It was slightly shorter then Naruto's, but still longer then the boy from his vision. The guard was identical, except it was a slightly darker shade, while the blade was far different. On the outside, it formed a curved blade reminiscent of a raven's wing, with etchings that could also make it seem like a mass of black flames. On the inside end, where Naruto's had the orb with scythe-like blades, was another, smaller blade that extended back from just behind the tip, to roughly a third of the way down the sword. It was semi-transparent and had the likeness of smoke. It reminded Itachi of the Susanoo for some reason. At the end of the chain on the hilt was an emblem in the shape of the Mangekyou eyes. But what Itachi found most curious was the small piece of metal which protruded from the lower, inner side of the guard and curving slightly upward, and right where his index finger could reach it. And running along the back side of the blade was long thin tube that seemed to emerge from the blade itself.

'_What could that be for?'_

A thought suddenly struck Itachi, a memory of his defeat of the heartless-Mikoto, or rather the _way_ he had defeated it. A sword, that shot a blast of energy. Recalling that, Itachi pointed the sword at one of the heartless, and squeezed the switch.

The effect was immediate.

A thin line of red chakra-like energy lanced from the tube at the end, spearing the heartless before dissipating an instant later, along with the heartless, which disintegrated.

Smirking, Itachi dived into the melee. He couldn't have his comrade have _all_ the fun.

Meanwhile, Kisame was hacking through the Shadows, his Samehada making short work of them. Hinata was having similar success, her Jyuuken easily dispatching any of the heartless. Anko was having more trouble, not having any weapons or styles that used chakra directly. She still had other things to rely on however. Running through handseals, she breathed deeply.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" she called out as she shot a giant fireball at a group of shadows, the flames easily incinerating them, as well as opening up a path for everyone to regroup. Forming a circle, the six shinobi fought off the dark creatures. But even then, there were just too many.

"Damn! There's too many of them!" Kisame yelled. "You got any ideas Itachi?"

"I do!" Anko said as she bit her thumb and ran through seals. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" she yelled as she slammed her palm on the ground.

Nothing happened.

"What the hell? Why didn't anything happen?" Anko asked.

"Hm. Well we are in another dimension. It would make sense that our summons would not be of any use" Itachi said in his usual calm tone, as if they weren't in the middle of a life-or-death situation.

"Wait, what?!" Anko yelled. "What do you mean we're in another dimension?"

"We don't have time for this!" Deidara yelled as he put some clay from his pouch into the mouth on his right hand.

"Please work, un" he whispered as he threw his arm out, the piece of clay turning into a massive clay bird, in front of three shocked, and three not-so-shocked, on lookers.

As the three Akatsuki members jumped on, Itachi turned to the others.

"Get on!"

Not really complaining at the moment, Naruto, Hinata and Anko leapt on too, and the bird took flight.

"Eat this, bastards!" Deidara yelled as he threw another clay bird. This one hit the spot they had just occupied, obliterating the heartless in a massive explosion.

As they circled the island, Deidara turned to Itachi and spoke in a whisper, Kisame leaning in to listen.

"Itachi. What are you thinking? Aren't they our enemies? Why not leave them behind for those things? I understand Naruto since we need him but why the other two?"

"Because they aren't our enemies anymore," Itachi replied. "We've been brought here for a greater purpose. We have a task to accomplish, and besides, I have a promise to fulfill"

"Wait, what do you…?"

"Later. We have things to do right now" Itachi interrupted and turned to Naruto.

"If this is indeed the place from our dream, then the boy we're looking for must be here somewhere. We need to find him"

Nodding, Naruto turned to Hinata.

"Hinata, can you use your Byakugan?"

"H…Hai," Hinata answered as her eyes activated. "What does he look like?"

"He's a little younger then you and me, and he has spiky brown hair and blue eyes. He might be holding a sword similar to mine and Itachi's"

Hinata nodded and expanded her range.

"N-Naruto-kun! He's down there!" she spoke a second later, pointing down to a clearing on top of the island.

Deidara looked to Itachi as if looking for confirmation of what he should do, to which the Uchiha merely nodded, giving him a look that said to listen to her.

Nodding back, Deidara guided the bird to the left, heading for the clearing while the others looked to it.

"Hey, I think I see him" Naruto yelled over the wind rushing past them.

"Deidara, get us down there!" Itachi said/ordered

"You got it"

But as they descended, Naruto noticed something odd, which suddenly turned to fear as he realized what it was.

"Wait, what is _that_?" Kisame said, pointing to the large vortex on the edge of the cliff that seemed to be sucking up everything in front of it.

"I don't know," Naruto grimaced, "but it's sucking us in!"

Everyone else was soon inclined to agree as the wind around them suddenly picked up, even though they had almost stopped moving.

"Damn it! What is that thing?!" Anko yelled over the wind rushing past them.

"Don't worry! As long as the bird holds up, I can get us out of here!" Deidara yelled back.

That was when the clay bird broke apart.

"You were saying?!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the vortex, it was what Naruto could only describe as pure darkness. They seemed to be falling down a great spiraling tunnel, a tunnel of pure darkness. They were all falling together, but that didn't seem to do them any good.

"What the hell is this?!" Anko yelled.

"I don't know but-" Itachi was cut off as something happened. He felt something, and Naruto felt it too.

The power. The power within them that they had both felt, and had manifested itself in the key-like swords they were holding. The power, and they themselves, were being called. Slowly, each of the others felt it too, a pull, a tug, like they were being drawn towards something.

Each one of them looked to where they were being drawn, further down the dark tunnel. Then, down the black tunnel, so far that they were hardly able to see it, a light appeared. Not like a light at the end of the tunnel, but a single point of light, shining at them like a star in the night sky.

As if on que, Naruto and Itachi felt their power resonating with the light, and their swords began to glow, letting off a low ringing sound. They seemed to gleam with silver light, which soon spread to their wielders, bathing them in that same light. Their four companions look on, awestruck.

Then, the swords let out an even greater light. From their hilts, they shot out tentacles of light. Naruto's shot out a line to Hinata, then to Deidara. Itachi's went to Anko, then Kisame. As they were linked to the swords, the four shinobi began to glow with the same light as Naruto and Itachi. Then finally, the swords shot out a final light, linking each other together.

'_Wha… What is this? This… This power…'_ Naruto thought as he looked at his weapon, shocked at what he felt from it. The feeling… It felt like… pure power. Neither good nor evil. Simply… power. A power that could give life, or take it away. A power that could crush a world to dust, and breath life into another. Then, almost intuitively, Naruto knew what to do.

His face steeled into conviction, Naruto looked to Itachi, who's face was in an identical expression. They nodded to each other, and pointed their swords at the point of light. In response, the weapons shined even brighter, and the ringing intensified. Then, they shot out a beam of pure silver energy. And it was not like the beams shot from Itachi's sword either. The beams lanced out slower, but still quite fast, and did not dissipate. Instead they continued reaching out, until they seemed to blend together as they reached the far away light.

As they reached the light, the glow around Naruto, Itachi and the others intensified. They grew stronger and stronger, until all six of them were nothing more then gleaming silhouettes of light. Suddenly, all six silhouettes seemed to lose their cohesion, and shot forward as six large beams. The beams that had been Naruto and Itachi were the biggest and shot out ahead of the others beams as they began to converge. The beams that had been Hinata's and Deidara's twisted around and merged with Naruto's, while Anko's and Kisame's joined with Itachi's. Finally, the two massive beams joined each other, becoming a single massive beam of light that shot forwards even faster towards its destination.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ugh… What happened?" Naruto asked to no one in particular as he opened his eyes, slowly knocking the sleep from his eyes.

As previous events resurfaced in his memory, he got up to try to look around. Or at least, he tired to.

Trying to move his left arm, Naruto found that some large, warm mass on top of it. And as he tired to move the rest of his body, he realized this thing was it was draped over his body. Trying to knock the rest of the dreariness from his eyes, Naruto focused on the dark, navy blue mass of what appeared to be hair over his face. It was then that his ears picked up an obviously feminine voice mumbling something. A voice emanating from right next to his ear.

"Mm… Naruto-kun"

Naruto's face immediately turned bright red as he realized what this warm and …comfortable?… mass was.

Slowly turning his head to the side, Naruto came face to face with the sleeping form of a certain dark-haired girl.

"Hinata…?" he slowly breathed out, wondering if this was some weird dream.

'_And a nice one too'_

Naruto's trepidation of being in such close proximity to the mysterious girl was replaced with confusion as he wondered where the heck that thought had come from.

'_Well… this is kind of nice I guess'_ he began to think in agreement. Her body held a kind of warmth that Naruto had never felt before (something understandably, having never been in a situation anything like this one), and it did feel nice. That, and he could also feel her… well-endowed… chest against his body. And that did feel really…

'_GAH! Bad Naruto! You've been reading too much of Jiraiya's porn!'_

Banishing those thoughts from his head, Naruto instead found his attention drawn towards Hinata's face, and the soft, content smile on it.

'_She looks so peaceful'_

That was when, with their faces just inches apart, and Naruto's face still red, that Hinata chose that moment to slowly open her eyes.

When her eyes opened, they instantly widened. Though the two of them simply stayed motionless, Hinata as she seemingly was still processing what was happening or trying to discern whether this was a dream or not while Naruto was still frozen with trepidation, recalling what had happened when he had gotten anywhere within Sakura's 'personal space'.

"…"

"…"

It didn't last long.

"AHHHHH"

Hinata's face instantly turned red as both of them seemed to almost teleport away from each other, Naruto sitting semi-upright with his hands in front of his face while Hinata was on her knees, both profusely apologizing for what had happened, seemingly convinced that it had been each their own fault.

Naruto was apologizing because he knew that the last time he had ended up within three feet of Sakura when she had woken up, she had pummeled him mercilessly, and was sure that Hinata might do the same.

Hinata on the other hand, was merely following her shy and always apologetic nature, fearing that Naruto would hate her for that.

After a few seconds of this, both terrified shinobi began to realize they were not being yelled at/pummeled.

Lowering his arms, Naruto looked over at Hinata, who herself seemed to realize that neither seemed willing to take action against the other, which Naruto guessed warranted a bit more casual apology.

"Uh… Sorry about that" Naruto said meekly, scratching the back of his head as he averted his eyes from Hinata in his usual fashion.

"Oh… um, No that was my fault. I landed on top of you" Hinata replied just as softly, her own eyes averted in an apologetic manner.

Naruto wasn't quite sure how to respond to this situation, and neither was Hinata, as neither had been in a situation quite like this one before. Naruto's previous dealings with girls his age (namely Sakura), he had been completely beaten up for what seemed to be the smallest infraction. And Hinata had been almost the same way, only it came more naturally to her and her fathers cold and berating nature had only caused this to fester and grow. They had never really been in a situation where the person they were apologizing to took fault for themselves.

"Well… uh…" Naruto tried to come up with some kind of rebuttal to Hinata's apology, trying to come up with an answer of what to say. "I guess it's neither of our faults. I mean, we were knocked out when that vortex spit us out so neither of us could know what was happening, right?" he said with a half-hearted chuckle, still somewhat fearing being beaten up.

"Oh, well… I guess you're right then" Hinata said with a similar meek laugh as the blush on her face began to fade (as did the redness on Naruto's).

"Yeah…" Naruto trailed off as he suddenly remembered that there were other things to worry about. "Hey, where are the others?" only for both of them to hear a soft, almost meek voice in an accent that none of them expected to hear.

"Uh… A little help here?" came Itachi's meek (WTF?!) whisper from under Anko, who was laying on top of him in a manner similar to how Hinata and Naruto had ended up, though with one major difference.

Judging from Anko's er… movements… she was in the middle of a very… 'active' dream, that and the grin on her face as Itachi tried desperately to remove her arms from around his neck.

Naruto was now staring with his jaw dropped in shock and amazement at what he was hearing and seeing. Itachi Uchiha… the man who had completely massacred the mighty clan of Sharingan wielders, and the greatest Konoha nuke-nin other then Orochimaru himself… was shivering in trepidation because he had ended up in a very compromising position with a girl. And was his face red too? Hinata was merely wondering what the heck Anko was doing, having not been as well acquainted with the Uchiha.

"Seriously… a little help?" Itachi said again glancing to the two of them while trying to pry himself from Anko's grip.

Naruto shock had now been slowly transformed as he realized the implications of this… and started snickering. His prankster mind had already found the scene to be _extremely_ funny, and it was all he could do to not completely burst out laughing and rolling on the ground. Hinata too giggled slightly as she began to figure out why Naruto found it to be so funny, and found that so did she, though to a far lesser extent then he did (both conveniently forgetting that they had been in a similar position not five minutes before).

Itachi on the other hand, was not amused.

"This isn't funny you know!" he growled as he sent them the patented 'Uchiha Death-Glare, or at least as well as he could with the flushed and embarrassed expression he had on, which toned down it's effectiveness by a very high amount.

"Oh but it is… _Itachi-kun_" Anko purred, her eyes still closed as she made to tighten her grip on the dark-haired teen, something that made Itachi completely forget about the two that were watching them with barely veiled amusement.

"W-Wait a minute. Y-You were awake? This whole time?" he said with a slight stammer, desperately trying to keep his composure. In all his time as the stoic, emotionless ANBU/S-rank nuke-nin, there remained only one person that could ever get under his skin like that. And that was the girl on top of him smirking down at him like a stalking predator. Itachi was currently very thankful for the cloak that covered him, as well as the high color that at least partially covered the redness on his face.

"Yep" Anko chirped as she finally got off of him and onto her feet. She chuckled as she saw Itachi get to his feet, still doing his best to send an effective scowl at their 'audience' who was still snickering at him.

"Oh come on. I know you liked that" Anko continued in a low, seductive tone as she suddenly wrapped an arm around Itachi's shoulder.

Naruto on the other hand, started wondering if he and Hinata had missed something along the way. Seeing the infamous Itachi Uchiha squirm like that was certainly hilarious, but he was still curious as to where this all started. And why Itachi didn't try to refute Anko's statement.

"Anyway," Itachi spoke up, trying to change the subject, "Where're Kisame and Deidara anyway?" he finished as he started looking around, getting a feel for where they had ended up. The four of them were in an alleyway in some kind of town or city. It seemed to be nighttime, as they could make out the street lights outside the alley, illuminating the streets beyond in a sickly orange glow.

'_Where are those two?'_ Itachi's answer came sooner then he thought actually.

"OI! Get this walking sushi bar off me un!" came the semi-muffled voice of their other blonde companion from behind them, prompting the four shinobi to turn to it, and start their snickering again.

Apparently, when the weird vortex had spit the six of them out, they had landed in pairs in some fashion. Though while the first two had landed rather gracefully, with the lighter of the two on top, with Kisame and Deidara, their landing had been a little… harder.

Itachi and Naruto chuckled while Hinata giggled and Anko started flat out laughing at the sight of Deidara desperately trying to push the still-sleeping form of Kisame Hoshigaki off of him. Not only had he had the misfortune of landing in a large puddle with the massive shinobi on top of him, but said shinobi also happened to have landed on his back, meaning that the massive zanbatou hanging from it was being jabbed rather painfully into Deidara's… well Deidara in general actually. Then there was the fact that the blonde's face was being used for a makeshift pillow for the shark-nin, along with his hair that Itachi knew smelled like dead fish. Add in the fact that Kisame was still asleep (with a comic drop of drool hanging from his open mouth). All in all, it was not a pleasant experience for the former Iwa-nin.

"Okay okay" Itachi said as the four of them approached the final two members of their new team. "I'll get him up"

With that, Itachi knelt down right next to Kisame's ear. Before doing anything, he glanced to his three observers.

"You may want to stand back"

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Naruto stood back, along with Hinata and Anko. Satisfied, Itachi leaned in close and whispered lightly into Kisame's ear, a whisper Naruto was pretty sure he would never have heard had his senses not been augmented by Kyuubi's influence over the year and a half of training with it.

"Fluffy wants to talk to you"

The effect was rather immediate.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!! Where?! Where?! SAVE ME FROM THE HORROR!" Kisame screamed in a high-pitched voice as he leapt to his feet glancing around in terror, Samehada drawn and being waved around in random directions.

"It's okay Kisame. It's not here. The thing's dead remember?" Itachi said in a surprisingly placating tone, trying to calm the ex-mist nin down.

Kisame seemed to easily register Itachi's voice and seemed to calm down almost instantly, sending Itachi a very annoyed glare.

"You know I hate it when you do that"

"And that makes it all the funnier" Itachi replied with a small grin, something that had long been absent from his face. He had forgotten the last time he had had this much fun. All his time in the Akatsuki had been filled with darkness and brooding. He had never had much time or need for any kind of amusement outside of the occasional time Kisame did something funny. This was a welcome change. Thinking back, the time he had been asleep under Anko had been the first peaceful rest he had gotten in years, and he loved it. Thinking back, perhaps his experiences in the trials had done more then simply give him a revelation. It might have just put him on the path back to his humanity. Just maybe. But Itachi didn't care at this point.

"Well, now that we're all up, where are we, and who are you three, un?" Deidara said as Naruto and Hinata helped him up, gesturing to the latter two and Anko.

"Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto introduced as he extended his hand to Deidara as a handshake, something that confused the demolitions expert a little. He knew who they were didn't he? Knew that they were after the Bijuu sealed inside him right? Then why was he being so cordial to him? Just what had happened to him and Itachi? Deciding to dwell on that later, Deidara took the handshake. If Itachi was right, then he supposed they'd have to work together for the time being, and he'd never cared much for the organization anyway.

"Deidara. Iwa nuke-nin, un"

"Anko Mitarashi" Anko introduced as Deidara looked to her, "And that's Hinata Hyuuga" she continued, gesturing to the girl.

"H-Hi" Hinata greeted.

"Well, now that we're all properly acquainted, how about you two tell us what you know about this so-called mission of ours?" Kisame asked as he turned to Itachi and Naruto, a bit miffed at being left out of the loop.

"Hey," Hinata spoke up as she noticed something, "What happened to your swords?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he realized that she was right. The sword he had summoned on that island was gone. But then if he had summoned it, couldn't he summon it again? Extending his hand and concentrating, Naruto found that he could still feel that power. It was subtle, but it was still there. As he focused on it, Naruto grinned as the sword reappeared in his hand in a flash of light, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Itachi had done the same. A thought suddenly occurred to Naruto then. If he could summon it like this, and it had vanished when he had been knocked unconscious, maybe he could simply will it away when he wasn't using it. Focusing on what he wanted, Naruto's grin widened as the sword vanished in the same flash of light, then reappeared in the same manner as he willed it to return.

"Cool"

"Geez, what kind of swords are those?" Deidara asked, "I've never even heard of anything like that, though the summon thing is pretty nifty, un"

"Yeah" Naruto agreed as he dismissed the weapon, Itachi doing the same.

"So, are you going to explain what the hell we're doing here or what?" Kisame asked, a bit more annoyed at being ignored like that.

"Well um…" Naruto stumbled as he scratched the back of his head. He wasn't too good at stuff like this. "Uh… Itachi?" he glanced to the older teen, a silent request that he take over.

"Alright," Itachi agreed, "but we should start looking for that boy while I'm explaining. Chances are he got sucked into that vortex too, which means he should be around here somewhere" Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement, the latter because she understood that this kid, whoever he was, must be important.

"What's so important about this kid anyway, un?" Deidara asked.

"You'll understand when I'm finished" Itachi answered as he began a narrative of what the voice had told him.

As Itachi explained, the six shinobi walked down the alley and into the street, glancing around for their charge.

"So let me get this strait," Kisame said as Itachi finished as they walked out onto the dimly lit street. "We've somehow been sucked out of our own dimension by some god-like beings to help some kid they've chosen save this dimension from those weird creatures who are really the manifestations of a person's inner darkness called 'Heartless'? And those weird weapons you and Naruto have are somehow the key to all this?"

"More or less" Itachi's confirmed "though the last part is more of a feeling I had about all this. I'm assuming that their manifestations of whatever 'power' they gave us. The voice didn't tell me anything about what these weapons could be."

"Me neither" Naruto put in.

"Wait a minute," Anko spoke up, "why did they just give this 'power' to you two? If they want all six of us to protect him, why didn't they give it to all of us?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were limited as to who they could give it too, and just thought that Naruto and I could use it best" Itachi answered, "And are you sure you didn't pick up anything? Naruto and I can sense Heartless now, and I wondered whether anyone else had gotten it"

"Um… I think I can" Hinata said, "I didn't know what it was at first, but I think I was able to feel their presence when we were fighting them"

"Yeah… come to think of it, I think I was able to sense them, at least that they were there" Anko said.

"Me too, I think, un" Deidara agreed.

"Same here" came Kisame's answer.

"Well, I guess we won't know for sure until…" Naruto trailed off as his and Itachi's eyes widened. Their Heartless sense had just flared up. "You feel that?" he asked, glancing to his companions.

"Yep"

"Uh-huh"

"Mm-hm"

"Yeah"

Itachi nodded in agreement. All of them seemed to have acquired the 'Heartless sense' as Naruto had called it. He and Naruto summoned their swords while Kisame drew Samehada and Hinata assumed a Jyuuken stance. Deidara and Anko each drew a kunai as the other four took positions around them.

"Hey, what the hell? I can handle myself" Anko spoke up in indignation as Itachi and Kisame took a protecting stance in front of her, Naruto and Hinata doing to same for Deidara.

"Neither you nor Deidara have chakra based weapons. You'll be in a disadvantage in a close-quarters fight" Itachi explained.

Anko mumbled under her breath, accepting defeat as Itachi and Naruto took up stances with their swords. Naruto held his at his hip pointed to the side with both hands in preparation to swing while Itachi held his pointing forward, ready to use its ranged attack.

"They're here" Naruto spoke in a low voice as parts of the shadows around them began to rise and coalesce into about thirty Shadows. Naruto smirked. This shouldn't be too hard between the six of them.

Just as they were about to charge though, something quite odd happened. Suddenly, a trio of sharp reports reverberated around the empty street as three of the heartless suddenly disintegrated. Itachi could just make out, through his Sharingan, a small piece of metal infused with chakra impacting each of them at incredible speeds.

Deciding to capitalize on the distraction, Itachi began firing off shots from his sword, disintegrating more of the creatures. Naruto, Kisame and Hinata followed suit and leaped into the fray, dispatching the heartless with a series of sword and palm strikes. Meanwhile, the strange shots continued to come, destroying more of the shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi could just make out the flash of a red cloak darting about the roof tops.

'_Seems like were not alone in this fight'_

Itachi suddenly noticed that one of the heartless had gotten past his gaze and was rushing right at him. Itachi was about to bring his sword around to block the heartless before someone beat him to it. Itachi wasn't sure exactly where the man had come from, but he had quickly leapt in front of the Uchiha, easily dispatching the Heartless with an odd-looking longsword.

"Thanks" Itachi said, as he quickly examined his new ally.

He seemed to be Itachi's age, if a little older. He had dark-brown hair that fell around his head in spikes and he glared at the heartless through dark eyes. He was wearing a white tank-top over an unzipped black jacket with short sleeve shirt and a pair of black cargo pants and boots. Around his neck was a pendent that looked like a lion's head above a cross. The same emblem was embroidered on his left sleeve in red.

"No problem" the man answered as more of the creatures came at them. It seemed like they were the last of the heartless as the two of them easily dispatched them and found that Hinata, Naruto and Kisame had already dealt with the rest, Anko and Deidara looking annoyed at being left out.

"Thank you for your help" Itachi said as he turned to the man, his companions nodding in agreement.

"No problem, and he was the one who sensed your exit portal and told us where you were" he answered as a slightly older man jumped down from one of the roofs. The man was tall, taller then most of the others save Kisame. He had pitch-black hair that spiked out in all directions and came down over his forehead, as well as spilling off down his back in an arrangement that eerily reminded Itachi of Madara. His eyes were a dark crimson as well, in fact, were it not for the fact that they had no dots or tomoes in them, Itachi would think he was an Uchiha. His clothing consisted of a black body-suit held on by straps around his body. On his right hand was a black leather gauntlet and on his left was a clawed dark golden metal gauntlet. He also wore a pair of spiky-toed metal boots of the same color as well as a tattered crimson mantle. In his right hand was strange weapon the likes of which Itachi had never seen before. It resembled the hilt of the first man's weapon, but with three tubes emerging from it as well as strange carvings along it and an odd pendent hanging from the handle.

"Name's Leon by the way"

"Itachi Uchiha"

"Naruto Uzumaki" the blonde introduced as he rested his sword on his back.

"Anko Mitarashi" the purple haired jounin said with a grin.

"Deidara, un"

"Kisame Hoshigaki"

"H-Hinata Hyuuga"

As Itachi and the others looked to the cloaked man who had yet to say anything, he spoke in a monotonous voice that Itachi was pretty sure even he would be hard-pressed to match.

"Vincent Valentine"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, there you go. Latest chapter of KOTH.

Yes, Vincent's here. More FF7/other characters will probably show up later.

And how many saw Deidara coming huh? Not many I'd bet.

As for why Itachi and Naruto are the only ones with Keyblades; 1. it would take way too long to write a 'dive to the heart' for each character and I wanted to move the story forward, 2. while all six of them have been chosen to guard Sora, Naruto and Itachi are special among them. Naruto has Kyuubi and Itachi has Mangekyou. Therefore, they could do far more with the Keyblades, and it wasn't like the Worlds could have gifted any of the others anyway. It's like Itachi said, they had to prioritize.

And yes, Itachi's Keyblade is also a gunblade. Nobody's done that before with a Keyblade and I thought it would suit him. As for why he's acting a bit OOC, well he did have that 'revelation' in his dive to the heart. Just as Naruto is acting a bit more mature, Itachi is becoming a bit more light-hearted. Don't worry, he'll still be his badass self, just not as silent (and Anko's interaction will help).

And some NaruHina and ItaAnko action too. Don't worry, it'll happen soon (I'm thinking by the end of the third world at most (at least with NaruHina. ItaAnko might happen more over time))

And on a final note, I need ideas for something. The first being that I always thought the Gummy ship designs were pretty stupid looking, so since I'm already planning on more crossovers in this fic, I'm thinking of Naruto, Sora and the others using a space-ship from another anime/game, and I need ideas. I already have some ideas, but I'd like some of your input as well.

The only restriction is that the ship has to be able to be effectively manned by a crew of, at most, six to seven. That means no giant battleships like the Archangel or Avalon. Just a small, high-speed ship with a small crew.

And also, I'm going to be planning a lot of the battles in the whole 'Advent Children/Matrix' style. And because of that, I think it would be extremely hard to include Donald and Goofy in any way that doesn't have them being knocked around like ping-pong balls (no offense to those who like them). So basically, I need replacements for them, but I can't think of who, so I'm asking for suggestions. They do have to be Disney characters, and one's that could be reasonable replacements for them. Donald and Goofy are still going to be in the story in their roles, they're just going to be staying on guard at Disney Castle and not accompanying Sora. So in other words, anyone who could be working as combat personnel at Disney Castle and could hold their own in battles like the ones I have planned (for example, Beast or Aladdin might work from a combat standpoint, but their not ones who could be closely affiliated with King Mickey).

Any suggestions on either of these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Next Chapter: Naruto, Itachi and the others get acclimated to life in another dimension, Sora makes his debut, and giant heartless attack (and some other stuff too)

_Anko: Whoa that's a big one_

_Kisame: Why am I always the one to get smacked around? _

_Naruto: So why does she call him 'Earl of Pudding'?_

_Leon: No idea._

Read and Review.


End file.
